I was somewhat shocked a couple of weeks ago when I read that the teen birth rate in Pettis County was so much higher than both the state and national averages. The national average is 42 per 1,000 births and the state’s average is 46 per 1,000 births. Our county comes in with 75 per 1,000 newborns. That’s pretty disturbing. It makes me think that somebody needs to start paying attention.
While I’ll leave the subject of teenage behavior to parents and others to deal with, my concern is with the literacy issue. The number of high school dropouts across the country is outrageously high. According to a report issued last year by America’s Promise Alliance, based on federal Department of Education statistics for the 2003-2004 school year, 1.2 million public high school students drop out every year.
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