Nothing to be proud of here from my home state, folks. Florida is apparently so incompetent that they can't even tell you what their graduation rate is.
I think a larger problem lies in the fact that so few of Florida's best and brightest want to stay in the state. Everyone I know, with the exception of my best friend, seems to have left - especially the people who went to top-25 colleges. They're living in New York, Boston, Washington DC (that would be me, I guess... as well as a few other grads from my high school I've randomly run into). Florida provides no incentive for any of us to stay. There's no cultural life, there are no cities based around an economy other than tourism, and about 10 months of God-awful weather. Maybe I'm wrong and there have been some cultural developments, but I became tired of going to a place where every restaurant you eat at is owned by some large, faceless corporation.
If the state doesn't do anything to keep the best and the brightest in house, then there's no way that the graduation rate can go up. I'm not volunteering to go back... but maybe they can look at some other states who have attempted to keep their brightest from fleeing. I mean, I like beaches as much as the next person, but I want to be able to have a fulfilling career that is intellectual stimulating and a variety of activities to do on the weekend. I also wanted to be surrounded by other smart and interesting people. Florida offered none of that to me, and it certainly doesn't seem to want to try.
"Graduation rate debate." (From The Tampa Tribune, published in Ocala.com on January 26th, 2007.)
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