[ti:Facing America's High Dropout Rates ]
[ar:Steve Ember]
[al:Education Report]
[by:51VOA.COM]
[00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English 
[00:03.65]Education Report.
[00:05.53]Less than sixty percent of students now 
[00:08.87]entering four-year American colleges 
[00:12.15]are likely to graduate. 
[00:13.95]The completion rate is lower than 
[00:16.97]for almost any other wealthy country, 
[00:20.19]and worst for poor and minority students.
[00:24.47]A new book about America's public universities 
[00:28.32]explores the complex causes of the high dropout rate. 
[00:33.80]The book is called "Crossing the Finish Line."
[00:37.63]President Obama wants the United States 
[00:40.87]to again have the world's highest percentage 
[00:44.62]of college graduates by two thousand twenty. 
[00:48.37]But to finish college, children first have 
[00:52.16]to reach the starting line by getting there.
[00:55.90]On Tuesday the president 
[00:58.04]gave a nationally broadcast speech 
[01:00.59]to students about the importance of staying in school. 
[01:05.02]He spoke on the first day of classes 
[01:08.32]at a high school in Virginia. 
[01:11.20]He talked about personal responsibility, 
[01:14.24]and used himself as an example of someone 
[01:18.07]who overcame difficulties.
[01:20.96]BARACK OBAMA: "My father left my family 
[01:22.20]when I was two years old, and I was raised 
[01:25.09]by a single mother who struggled at times 
[01:28.29]to pay the bills and wasn't always able 
[01:30.59]to give us things the other kids had. 
[01:32.68]There were times when I missed 
[01:34.57]having a father in my life. 
[01:36.21]There were times when I was lonely 
[01:38.35]and felt like I didn't fit in."
[01:40.05]But he told students that problems 
[01:41.99]in their own lives should not stop them from learning.
[01:45.67]BARACK OBAMA: "That's no excuse 
[01:47.31]for talking back to your teacher, 
[01:48.85]or cutting class or dropping out of school. 
[01:50.96]That's no excuse for not trying."
[01:54.50]This was not the first presidential speech to students. 
[01:58.38]Ronald Reagan spoke from the White House 
[02:01.07]in nineteen eighty-eight. 
[02:02.82]And George H.W. Bush spoke from a school 
[02:06.61]in Washington in nineteen ninety-one.
[02:09.75]But many conservatives criticized plans 
[02:13.59]for the speech. 
[02:14.98]Some called it "socialized education" 
[02:18.04]or federal interference in local schools. 
[02:21.82]Others feared it would be too political. 
[02:25.60]Some schools decided not to show the speech. 
[02:29.28]But the White House released the text on Monday, 
[02:32.88]and that calmed a lot of critics.
[02:35.82]On Sunday, on the CBS program "Face the Nation," 
[02:40.23]Education Secretary Arne Duncan said 
[02:43.46]thirty percent of students do not graduate 
[02:47.25]from high school. 
[02:48.69]He called the dropout rate "staggering." 
[02:52.24]It represents more than a million students 
[02:55.37]every year who entered ninth grade 
[02:58.90]but do not complete twelfth grade.
[03:01.89]The education secretary called the objections 
[03:05.92]to the president's speech "silly." 
[03:08.61]But he also said one of the activities suggested 
[03:12.79]for students "wasn't worded quite correctly." 
[03:17.09]It related to the goal 
[03:19.08]of increasing college graduation rates. 
[03:22.80]It suggested that students "Write letters to themselves 
[03:28.35]about what they can do to help the president." 
[03:32.34]But after conservatives objected, 
[03:36.37]the activity was changed 
[03:37.96]to writing about personal goals.
[03:40.90]And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, 
[03:46.19]written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Steve Ember.