When faced with a high dropout rate, which would you do? Would you look for weakness in the classrooms and school administrations (and Washington) and plan to improve them? Or would you raise the legal age for dropping out?

The former would solve the problem, for as much as it can be solved. The latter would reduce the rate and give the appearance of progress for a while, without actually doing anything. President Obama prefers the latter.

I know, sounds crazy. But there is a history of messaging the numbers where this administration is concerned. Most notably is how the BLS reduces (doesn’t count) the labor participation rate which, if no jobs were created, would cause the unemployment ‘rate’ to go down.

Links: Obama proposal to raise dropout age falls flat  |  8.6 Percent Jobless Rate Is Bogus