Creativity, as well as money, may reduce drop-out rate

Urban kids – both American and European – keep dropping out of school.

Most of us are familiar with the whys. The usual causes include poor home-life conditions, including lack of support for academic achievement; disintegrating school buildings and facilities; cultural pressures and social issues, from gang influence and teen pregnancy to sheer poverty; and teachers and curricula that fail to engage students’ imaginations and interest.

In the United States, communities and governments have been struggling for decades to find solutions – any solutions – to the problem, leaving us with a mess of voucher programs, sketchy charter schools,  unequal distribution of funding (including Ohio’s long-unconstitutional, property-tax-based school funding) and ever-more-desperate inner-city schools.  The few models of success, such as magnet schools focusing on arts  or science, aren’t being widely adapted fast enough to make a difference to the majority of students, especially those lacking obvious special talents.

The U.S. House of Representatives has embarked on a new effort to improve the drop-out rate: Two weeks ago, Democrats introduced the Graduation for All Act , which would offer competitive grants to community school districts to help with the cost of improving low-performing high schools and middle schools. Okay idea, but a wretchedly cumbersome process. The legislation would require each district to invent its own wheel by forming a task force, bringing in experts and devising a strategy - allowing communities to custom-design policies to fit their particular needs, but swamping everyone involved in the bureaucratic equivalent of cold molasses.

Europe has at least a more imaginative approach, if no less burdensome procedures to overcome. As part of the European Year of Creativity and Innovation 2009, 100 students from 25 nations were invited to an innovation and creativity camp in Brussels last week to think up fresh products and services to engage schoolkids and keep them from dropping out.  

Their ideas? A Facebook-like service that would let classmates and teachers discuss schoolwork and share educational materials online. “Creative -thinking” classes. And most intriguingly, a student-mobility program that would give all European Union high-school-level students  the chance to study in another member state – a program that officials want in place by 2020. 

This would be a bear to set up, what with costs and the mind-melting details of information access, program enrollment, insurance, transportation, host families and curricula to cope with. It’s possible that existing student-exchange programs could be linked and expanded to form the organizational basis for a continent-wide system.

But at least the Europeans have had the sense and inventiveness to go to the students themselves for ideas and to commit to bringing some of those ideas about. 

What’s the difference between them and us/U.S.?  They say, “You’ve thought up a terrific concept. Let’s make it happen.” Our leaders are saying,  as usual, “Here’s some money.  Go figure out what to spend it on.”

Which approach do you think will result in a dynamic and effective solution to the problem?