Graduation a noteworthy and important achievement

You can almost hear the echoes of “Pomp and Circumstance” echoing around the Valley this week as another graduation season draws to a close.

It is a time for looking back and recalling good times, good friends and maybe even a special teacher or two who played a leading role in helping shape a young mind. It is also a time to look ahead, to a future made more promising by 12 years of education.

But graduation time can also be bittersweet for many of the estimated 1,175 Mat-Su Borough School District students who earned diplomas this year, as well as for their parents and school district staff. Bittersweet because even if you complete all required course work satisfactorily and walk across the stage with your class, you are not counted statistically as a school district graduate if those final steps as a student were more than four years in coming.

That’s true for every student in Alaska and across the United States. You are only counted as a graduate if you finish your studies in four years.

This is why so much of the handwringing over declining graduation rates is misplaced. It is easy to look at the Mat-Su Borough School District’s 72 percent graduation rate and dismiss public schools as “failing.” We hear it all the time, usually from opponents of public education.

But the statistical graduation rate only tells part of the story. According to MSBSD Superintendent Deena Paramo, another 25 percent of district students will earn their diplomas in five or more years. That leaves a meager 3 percent as the actual dropout rate.

That’s a significantly different picture of the success of the local school district and the hard-working teachers and administrators who make it all happen. It’s also an encouraging sign that as a community, we aren’t willing to kick these kids to the curb after four years. The goal of earning a high school education and diploma is valued whether one finishes on a traditional four-year track, or needs another year or two.

The value of a high school diploma cannot be overstated. That single piece of paper, and all the diligence and discipline required to earn it, make it much more likely that those who have one will become responsible, productive adults, regardless of the paths they choose after graduation.

So we offer our congratulations to all who earned a diploma this week. Your achievement is noteworthy, and it sets you up for further success after graduation.

To the 25 percent who stuck with it through challenges that prevent you from being counted in the graduation rate, we offer a special tip of the hat.

And, of course, none of this would be possible without teachers, whose own diligence and caring natures have value that benefit the community way beyond the classroom, as today’s graduates become tomorrow’s leaders.