Dropout activist Norman Toney. Courtesy of Imageviewer

Dropout activist Norman Toney. Courtesy of Imageviewer

What’s happening inside — and outside — the dropout nation:

    1. No matter where you sit, America’s public education system is a mess: Cynthia Brown of the Center for American Progress Action Fund and Arthur Rothkopf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have almost nothing in common. Except each one thinks the nation’s education system sorely needs an overhaul.
    2. 26.4 percent. Or suspending towards academic failure: With just 32 percent of the black males in the original Class of 2006 graduating from school (and a just-as-abysmal 46 percent graduation rate for the white males in that class) Milwaukee’s public school system is one of the worst place for young black men — or anyone — to get an education. One possible reason why? As reported today in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Council of Great City Schools chastises the district for overuse of suspensions and other harsh forms of school discipline that often contribute to the dropout crisis. More than a quarter of all students in the district are suspended at least once during the 2007-08 school year, according to the report.