Our View: Grad rates are a return on our investments

We hear the term “human capital” a lot. We’re told that for any area to grow, succeed and create opportunity, it must invest in human capital. Once you’ve made that investment, those in whom you have invested will pay dividends by what they accomplish.

This week, we could see a little return on that investment. State figures confirmed that our schools are doing a better job creating high school graduates than others in the state. That is a cause for celebration. Statewide, 80.8 percent of those who start high school finish within the usual four years. That number is slowly rising. But here, in Merced County – where 84 percent of those who start high school graduate on time – the number is rising rapidly. It gets better. Merced, Hilmar and Dos Palos high schools graduated 96 percent of their students on time. In Livingston, Los Banos, Mariposa, Delhi, Atwater and Buhach Colony the number was 93 percent or higher. Excellent!

We liked what Tammie Calzadillas told our reporter. The Merced Union High School District assistant superintendent said you have to keep the kids engaged. In Merced, that means providing classes with clear career goals such as culinary arts, ag and computer skills, and gateways into lifelong activities such as sports, band, orchestra and any number of clubs. “That’s how you keep them coming,” she said.

That’s where the investment part comes in. As we suffered through the Great Recession, among the things we cut from schools were the very things Calzadillas says keep kids in class. Now that we’re re-investing in those activities, we’re seeing the payoff: higher graduation numbers.

Remember, high school graduates have far more opportunities than those who drop out. Considering the unemployment, income and other disappointing numbers arising from our region, we welcome this good news. By investing in our young people, we’re creating that human capital.

Invest in compassion

Here’s something else we can invest in: compassion. The stories out of Nepal this week have been heartrending. As the death toll approaches 7,000 (and is projected to go much higher), we learn of ever more devastation. Ancient buildings crumbled; modern buildings propped up too hastily shook apart and buried those inside. Water and sanitary systems are devastated, so are many roads and bridges. Aftershocks make those buildings still standing unsafe to enter. Survivors have nothing.

That’s where we come in. Proving our world is small and intimately connected, it turns out a Nepalese doctoral student attends UC Merced. His family is safe, but his heart is broken for his homeland. His fellow grad students are rallying to help him help Nepal. They’ve opened a page at www.gofundme.com; the money will be turned over to Nepal’s prime minister for his National Relief Fund. You can find it at: www.gofundme.com/sxjkzw. There are credible organizations collecting money to help Nepal. Here are a few that have been vetted:

▪ Red Cross, www.redcross.org

▪ UNICEF, www.unicefusa.org/donate

▪ Catholic Relief Services, www.crs.org

▪ AmeriCares, www.americares.org

It is unlikely the people of Nepal will forget that, within a day of its arrival, an American response team found a survivor and pulled him from the rubble. We can’t all help sift through the rubble, but we can help rebuild.

This story was originally published May 1, 2015 at 5:42 PM with the headline "Our View: Grad rates are a return on our investments."