Editorials

Every once in a while a study comes along that confirms what is already known and makes us uncomfortable because little has been done.

It's common knowledge that Alabama's high dropout rate means that Alabamians earn less than those who finished high school and less still than those who finished college.

How much less?

In 1956, an Alabama dropout made 51 cents for every $1 earned by a college graduate. Today it is less than 29 cents for the $1 a college graduate earns.

Need a reason not to drop out?

There it is.

What's more, the study — commissioned by the Atlanta-based Southern Education Foundation — concludes that almost 60 percent of the income gap between the state and the rest of the nation can be blamed on this lack of education.

Put bluntly, the average Alabamian earned $5,788 less than the average American because the average American is better educated than the average Alabamian.

Since almost four out of every 10 Alabama high school students drop out, you can see what is dragging us down.

You don't get an education, you don't get a good job, and you are stuck at the bottom of the income ladder.

It can only get worse. In the global economy, the willingness to learn is more important than the sweat ability.

Yet down in Montgomery, our legislators and our governor are not talking about ways to properly fund education and ways to expand the nationally recognized Pre-K program and the state's reading initiative.

No, down in Montgomery they are talking about making do with what we have — or less.

What no one wants to face is that Alabama can do more than it is willing to do to educate our children for the 21st century. If that weren't the case, it could bring to Alabama more of the companies that require an educated workforce. That much is essential.

So far, Alabama has been able to attract industries that can use the existing labor force, a labor force that has proven capable of doing the jobs it is required to do. But the next wave of companies will want more, and unless the governor and Legislature do something to close the education gap, the income gap will remain open.