Finding the right motivation

If a high school diploma or a GED were required to get a permanent driver’s license, the dropout problem would evaporate. This is not the ideal solution, but it would work until educational gurus conjure up a more profound one.

We need to produce graduates who can get and retain jobs. Many students do not, and will not, understand the subtle points of education, but they all can see the connection between getting a diploma and driving.

I don’t know what is happening in society or K-12 education today. What I observe is frightening indeed! Educators seek complex solutions for problems that multiply endlessly, like the brooms in “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.”

As a retired university professor who witnessed a steady decline in student attitude and performance, I long for simple solutions. We need clear-cut rewards and goals that register with students and actually work.

Just about everybody wants to drive and should be willing to get a basic education to have that privilege. Do we have the clarity of thought and the resolve to actually seek solutions to problems like this, or must we be forever mired in baffle gab and boom fog confusion?

David T. Webb

Spokane