By Richard Marquez TexansCAN!
I was one of those students who needed a non-traditional" educational option. As a teenager I was what you would call incompatible with the traditional education model. To put it bluntly I was a dropout.
If I hadnt ultimately returned and received my high school diploma I would have been another statistic a kid who gave up on the system that gave up on him. The
Texas Association of Business honored me with the Distinguished Business Leader in Education award this month. I am honored to accept the award.
However I am not accepting this award on behalf of Richard Marquez. Im accepting it on behalf of everyone at Texans Can! and as a recognition of the success of all the charter schools in Texas aimed at serving those students who need a non-traditional educational option.
Fortunately my high school diploma was followed by a bachelors degree and then a masters degree and then a series of incredible jobs doing what can only be described as the most challenging sometimes frustrating and rewarding thing a person can do: educating children.
Who in their lives has not made a mistake? Lost their way? Someone gave you a second chance or helped you get through your obstacles. Or you probably
wouldnt be reading this. I was given a second chance. And the only way to repay that is to help other kids get the second chance I got.
As everyone in business knows helping a kid graduate from high school doesnt just expand that individuals chances of staying out of jail and maybe buying a house.
The fact is high school dropouts cost you and me money and lots of it.
In Texas where one student drops out of school every 2.5 minutes high school dropouts cost our state more than $350 million a year. We pay for them with social services. We pay for them in lost revenue for income taxes property taxes sales taxes and on and on. Sadly we also pay for them in our courts and jails.
Our business community loses too. We arent receiving college and workforce-ready young adults to hire in our companies.
Heres an example. We use technology everywhere. Whether you are working at Chase Bank or Albertsons you are using technology and you better be able to read and learn all the new changes in the systems you work with to keep up with your job. And you need to be able to articulate yourself well whether that is to a business owner who is your client or to your customer in your service line at the store or you are not going to survive.
More importantly about three-quarters of our states prison inmates are high school dropouts. Just think how much we as a state could save if our prison population were reduced by that much. Just think about how much less crime there would be if those dropouts rather than turning to crime had jobs and families and a future they thought was worth living for.
Our country is behind in educating our children. One of the reasons is we still believe every child learns the same. We know thats not true but we keep teaching that way.
Our public schools have been teaching the same way since the early 1900s.
Summer was designed for children to be able to help their parents work on the family farm where they lived. We dont have many children in our country today who need to work on the farm in the summer. Yet we arent using summer as an opportunity to teach our kids. The graduation rate in this country has not been higher than 70 since it peaked in the 1960s.
Yet we continue to teach the same ways.
People in business know there isnt one way to do anything. Yet we are following the same model in education that we have had for almost an entire century. Our children need choices of traditional and non-traditional public schools. We need to be doing everything we can to offer different ways to teach and meet the needs of kids today.
Texas is the greatest state in America. If anyone can figure out how to make our public school system the best it can be its Texas.
Some students will only thrive in schools with small class sizes a low adult-to-student ratio that gives each student the individual attention he or she needs and an education experience focused on the individual student.
Educators need to also be good business people. They need to understand the bottom line.
There is simply no better return on investment than educating a child and theres no more tragic loss than seeing their potential fly out the window every time an angry child an abused child or a child who just couldnt fit in gives up and drops out.
Its to our benefit as business people and as taxpayers to do everything within our power to make sure every child has a chance. More than that its our duty.
Richard Marquez is president & CEO of Texans Can! whose 10 campuses in Texas provide a second chance for at-risk youth and their families to achieve economic independence and hope for a better life through relationship-based education and training. To learn more about Texans Can! visit www.texanscan.org.
