Scratch My Head

Some things make me scratch my head, but no matter how much scratching I do, I still do not understand why. Yesterday a friend sent me an article from CNSNews.com that was about the educational achievements in different U.S. states. This new data, some of which was surprising and some expected, was from the Census Bureau. 

The two things that this article focused on were: 1) Percentage of residents 25 and older who never finished ninth grade. 2) High school graduates
In terms of completing ninth grade 9.7 percent of California residents 25 and older, the Census Bureau says, have never completed ninth grade. This embarrassing 9.7 % puts California on the top of this list! This did not make me scratch my head. In California, according to the Census Bureau’s five-year estimates, the resident population 25 and older was 25,950,818. Of those individuals, 2,510,370—or 9.7 percent–never completed ninth grade! Nationwide, 5.4 percent of residents 25 and older have never finished ninth grade, according to the latest five-year estimates. For comparison Wyoming has only 1.8%, and Montana 2.1% that have not completed ninth grade. Additional random scanning of list of dubious distinction has Ohio at 2.9% and Massachusetts at 4.6%. The part of this list that I am scratching my head about is the position of Texas, as for the most part California and Texas are at opposite ends of the spectrum, but yet Texas is the only state can comes close to California. Texas is second on this list with 8.7% of its residents having failed to complete ninth grade. (FYI: New York and New Mexico are tied for third with a distant 6.5%)
In terms of high school graduates, California finished last, number 50, with only 82.5 percent of its residents having graduated from high school. What makes this stat even more amazing is that in California children are required to attend school from six years of age until they are 18. “California’s compulsory education laws require children between six and eighteen years of age to attend school, with a limited number of exceptions,” says the California Legislative Analyst’s  Office, an agency of the California state government. Rhetorically I might scratch my head and ask, “what are these non-graduating eighteen year olds doing in school if they are not graduating”? However, again the part that has me scratching my head is the position of Texas on this list. Texas is a close second at 82.8 . . . meaning that only 82.8% of Texas residents ha have graduated from high school. Mississippi, Louisiana, and New Mexico close out the bottom five, while the national average is 87.3.
While these statistics are interesting and depressing at the same time, I believe that they have some interesting political implications. “How so?”, you might ask. 
From my perspective, if one hasn’t completed ninth grade, then his/her ability to read and to understand what they have read, is suspect. This makes the results of  California ballot propositions very imperfect. If 9.7% cannot truly understand what the ballot proposition means, what are they actually voting on? Similarly with only 82.5% of Californians with high school degrees, it is improbable that Republicans will be elected to statewide offices any time soon, as the majority of the 17+% without a high school diploma will be voting Democratic for a variety ofreasons.However, on the national scene the results from Texas are very worrisome, as 8.7% of its residents have failed to complete the ninth grade. The emergence of Democrat Beto O’Rourke could well be the canary in the coal mine for Texas. The recent Senate race in Texas implies that most of those 8.7% voted for O’Rourke, and recall that those states that rank the 3rd and the 4th worst on the “finishing of ninth grade” stats are both heavily Democratic (New York and New Mexico).Could it be that the Dems are keenly aware of these statistics and their implications? And could it be that is why they do not seem very motivated to remedy poorly performing schools? About this, I do not need to scratch my head!