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The rate of Oregon鈥檚 job growth is outstripping the national average. That is good news as it means full employment and more money in state coffers. But what about Oregon鈥檚 low high school graduation rates? What鈥檚 it going to take to get today鈥檚 Oregon high school kids to graduate on time?

The numbers are low 鈥� really low. Oregon is in last place, or almost. Educated people call that a failure. While our schools provide the opportunities, the students and their guardians are the ones who must take advantage of them.

A state that has bright spots like Nike, Facebook, Vigor, Hoffman, Intel, Daimler and others must have educated young people to fill their positions. If Oregonians won鈥檛 fill the vacant spaces, others will. Global competition is fierce. The openings must be filled with educated and qualified workers. China is moving ahead and other Asian countries aren鈥檛 far behind. Oregon cannot become a picturesque backwater.

There has been great emphasis on this in the last several years, but the lack of progress is disappointing. We can look to the schools, but more money, facilities, teachers or 鈥渆ducrats鈥� is not the answer. The responsibility is with Oregonians themselves. A fundamental change in the way education is viewed is needed. A change in the personal investment that we make in the way that Oregon鈥檚 children are supervised and educated is necessary.

Individual Oregonians must take on the responsibility to ensure that our young people are educated and graduate on time. The burden must not be on the schools or the daycare or someone else; it鈥檚 on us. To borrow a familiar phrase, 鈥渨e have seen the enemy and it is us.鈥� While education is not the same for everyone (for some it is no less than a post doctorate; for others it is a high school diploma), these numbers tell us something must change.

That is not to say that there aren鈥檛 some bright spots. The numbers tell us that there are some school districts that have good overall rates and others that have increased their rates significantly. But there are other school districts with rates so low that the situation suggests those communities place no value on an educated young person. Where is the compassion in that?

While the educational bureaucracies in those communities are likely not functional, the parents and supervising guardians must bear at least an equal amount of the blame 鈥� if not more. Children are not beets; they don鈥檛 grow up on their own. They must be supervised and nurtured. To suggest that what was good enough for us is good enough for our kids may no longer be valid. The day of a high school dropout making a living in the mills or in the fields is gone. Schools cannot make up for the lack of involved parenting. Becoming a parent is easy; being a parent is hard.

Professional associations have made great efforts to provide incentives for students to continue to stay in school and do well. 91视频 such as Mathcounts and the emphasis on STEM are some bright spots. But there is a significant segment they can鈥檛 reach. What will these children, and then adults, do in the future when they are not equipped to handle the jobs that are yet to be developed. Part of the answer to this question is before us now, in the numbers of homeless on the streets. And that number seems to grow by the month.

Jobs for those who are not well educated are being eliminated by automation. Business needs to sit up and take notice. For without a solid economic base there鈥檒l be no consumers for their products. The responsibility to instill a solid foundation rests as much with the industrial base of this state as it does with professional associations. Clearly the first function of business is to take care of business and develop products that sell. But the need to develop an educated consumer and employee base that can afford the products is just as essential. The business of Oregon needs to dive into this issue; it is too important not to.

Oregonians have lots of competing interests, but the need to ensure that the next generation is educated is critical. It鈥檚 an effort that must involve Oregon鈥檚 parents, businesses, professional associations as well as teachers and government leaders. Only until these groups coalesce around acceptable and successful strategies will there be a meaningful change in the numbers.

Christian Steinbrecher is president of Ukiah Engineering. He is the author of ASCE Oregon鈥檚 report card on Oregon鈥檚 infrastructure and a past recipient of ASCE Oregon鈥檚 Engineer of the Year award. Contact him at 503-297-4827 or [email protected].