Graduation rate a victim of statistics

Brother Mark Twain said there were three kinds of lies, lies, damn lies and statistics.

Nowhere do statistics show their power more than in public education.

Information about our schools is gathered, pored over and converted into pithy statements about the status of education on a regular basis.

But it doesn't take much of a look behind the curtain to realize that much of what goes into the statistics is skewed to favor a point of view, which is generally that American schools are failing students.

The calculation of graduation rates should be easy. You have a cadre of freshmen entering high school, you follow them through their careers and then you have the number of graduates.

But a recent calculation by Education Week, which listed Nevada's graduation rate at 41.8 percent, is a spectacular example of statistics used to support a point of view.

That 58 percent of the students who enter Nevada high schools aren't graduating is unbelievable. Even with the educational dead weight that is Clark County, we know how many freshmen enter school and how many leave, and it's the majority, not the minority, who graduate.

We realize that any calculation of graduation rates will place Nevada near the cellar. We don't believe that a 63.5 percent graduation rate is either right or proper.

All we ask is an honest accounting of our failings, so that we can address them in a straightforward manner.