According to the president of Milwaukee’s Messmer Catholic Schools, Milwaukee public schools have a dropout rate of more than 50 percent, and ethnic students have approximately a 65 percent chance of graduating.
UW-Madison College Republicans welcomed Brother Bob Smith to campus in Grainger Hall Tuesday night. Smith was elected as the Archbishop’s director of faith and formation for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in 2003. He served in this position until June 2006, and was in charge of the guidance and supervision of approximately 62,000 students.
According to Smith, a nationally recognized expert in education policy, the biggest problem with Milwaukee schools, is that, “of all of the children who graduate, the average grade is a D-plus.”
Smith said these statistics are the basis for why the City of Milwaukee instituted the school choice program in 1991. The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program is the nation’s oldest program providing low-income families with vouchers to enroll their children in private schools, according to SchoolChoiceInfo.org.
Smith said there are some excellent Wisconsin public schools, but that lower income students often do not have access to these schools, due to their location.
“There’s nothing wrong with public schools, except they have to be good public schools,” Smith said.
According to UW-Madison senior and College Republicans Chair Erica Christenson, the Milwaukee public school statistics are terrifying and the school choice program is “very important.”
Christenson said a major problem at public schools is that students—not the teachers—“run” the school. She said she worried society was becoming too politically correct and avoiding disciplining students when they act out in the classroom.
UW-Madison freshman Sergio Romero said he was surprised by the figures as well.
Romero said he thinks taking money away from state prisons and giving it to the school systems could definitely make a difference within Wisconsin public schools.
“If you have bad public schools, then you end up with poorly prepared students who end up doing some of the things you’ve seen happen around the country in the last several weeks,” Smith said, referring to the several recent nationwide school shootings.
