I think it means that the high school drop out rate is a problem we can start to fix. And I think the first step to doing this is as simple as asking students themselves about what it is that they value in their schools. I wish the questionnaire in this survey had asked students if any of their teachers or principals had ever asked them what they think about their schools and classes and how they could be improved. Not because the students should be able to run the school, but because a school that really values its mission would want to hear back from its students about whether it is succeeding and how it could do better... right?

After all, it doesn't make sense: more than 80% of students know that education is important, and a significant majority are actually on track to graduate. But they don't. Why not? The study suggests that it's largely because they aren't challenged hard enough and, as a resulted, aren't motivated. I think that's another way of saying that the students don't feel like the school or the faculty in it are really there for them. In other words, there's a big difference between treating high school students as partners in their schools and classrooms... and treating them as objects to be taught at and herded around, or even worse, as test scores and statistics. Students don't drop out when they have strong relationships with their teachers and when they feel like the adults care about them.

But whose fault is it that these high expectations and conversations between adults and students don't exist? Here's where I want to push back against what some other bloggers are saying about this survey. I don't think it helps at all to say that this survey is just kids blaming their teachers and schools for their own problems, or that the federal government is blaming schools unfairly, or even that adults are blaming kids unfairly. The truth is, we all share in the blame - most kids can work harder, most teachers can do a better job of investing in their students, and the government can certainly do more also. But when it comes to making these connections between students and educators...

This is something where the students have to take the lead. Educators aren't just going to change overnight and ask students what they want and what they care about. We, as young people, have to take it upon ourselves and show adults that we do care about our schools and that we do want to have a voice. This is what Our Education, as much anything else, is about: showing adults that young people, high school dropouts and graduates alike, want to work together with you to make our schools the best that they can be.