Abysmal graduation rates

William McGurn writes today in the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal of the abysmal rates at which America's students graduate from high school. In the 50 largest cities, the graduation rate averages 52 percent. In city centers it's lower than that, in suburbs higher but any rate below 90 percent is disgusting. For details on these rates, see the recent report of the America's Promise Alliance on their website.

People can argue about why the rates are so low. Some say it's the students, some say it's the parents, some say it's the teachers unions, some say its the lack of money. Money is the least likely cause of the problem.

Whatever the cause, and whatever the solution, this problem needs to be solved. Some people are working on it but not enough. Part of the problem is that not enough people know about it. Every political candidate ought to make solving this problem his or her number one goal. They ought to speak about it every time they get a chance. Political leaders such as Nancy Pelosi ought to get behind solving it. And these politicians should forget about partisanship and work together on this issue. Of course, they will not.