This seems like a problem
this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2026
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HS graduation rates were really under 75% from the 70s through 00s?!
I mean that’s my cohort (wassup my GenX underachievers!) but I’m still shocked…
Before No Child left Behind, schools/teachers were allowed to fail students. After that that 'educational reform' they were not.
Hence why most of our educational metrics go down, while our graduation rate went up. We simply lowered the bar.
There is no bar anymore. The 10% that aren't graduating are the kids that literally don't even show up to school. If a kid is at least at school half the time, they'll graduate. Don't even need to do anything, just being there is enough. Kids are "graduating" with actual GPAs <1.
It would be extremely difficult to graduate with a GPA less than 1. A 1 represents a D, so anyone graduating with a less than 1 would have to fail at least one class, and get a D in every other class. There is a minimum number of credits required to graduate, so failing multiple classes while still graduating is very difficult
It was closer to 1/3rd of students dropping out when I graduated high school, but living in the deep south was also a factor there.
I graduated in 2002 in a class of 600. We were around 800 in 10th grade, which was the start of high school at the time.