According to an article in Atlanta magazine, January 2013 issue by Rebecca Burns, Georgia ranks as the third lowest state in high school graduation. Only Nevada and New Mexico rank lower. Although some counties in North Georgia are at or above the state average for graduation, much can be done to improve the overall average.
Using information from Georgia Department of Education and the US Department of Education, it was found that the dropout rate for students from a low-income family was five times that of students from households in the top 20 percent economically. People who don't finish high school suffer from more health problems, are more likely to be arrested, pay few or no taxes and stand a much better chance of getting welfare.
High school dropouts are not likely to practice natural health. Finding a way to keep these students in school and on track to graduate with their freshman class is paramount to saving their lives and the state of Georgia a boatload of cash.
Students from households that are at or below poverty level, as a whole, lack parental support in academics, after-school activities and as role models. They are more likely to experience multiple broken homes, frequent change of address and little to no interaction with the adults in their lives. This cycle will continue to go unbroken until someone realizes that the fix could be as natural as having one caring adult in the life of each student.
Assigning a mentor to each student who has been identified as 'at risk' is a good start, but the mentors need education in the areas of life these students experience lack. A mentor needs to be willing to provide a ride to after-school practice, ball games, pep rallies and such. Mentors must be someone who easily loves children and is able to convey that love. For some students, a mentor should help with organization after a move. It is time to move on from the mentor that spends 30 minutes in school with a child, offering a word of encouragement and help with spelling.
More health problems in the future, less money to apply to health issues and the inability of patients to follow through with a doctor's orders and plan of health will seriously overload an already heavily weighted healthcare system. In the future, more people will find it necessary to practice natural health due to an overloaded system, but so few people will know how.
Instead of throwing more money down the rabbit hole, the education system should look into reimbursing mentors for gas money, tickets to games and for school items bought for the student. Keep the reimbursement amount low enough to weed out people looking for extra income. Theses students need caring people in their lives. Many older adults need a new purpose in life. Could it be as simple as matching these two groups of people to bring Georgia up to the top ten states in graduation rates? It is worth a try.
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