Class of 2015 Ready to Launch | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: The author of this post is Kristen Blair, who is a Chapel Hill-based education writer for the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

    RALEIGH     Students nationwide are reveling in the pomp and pageantry of high school's most joyous rite of passage: graduation.

    The class of 2015, resplendent in cap and gown, silky tassels, and school colors, is poised for launch. After the cap toss, kisses from grandma, and photo ops fade to black, where will these graduates go?

    Will they become captains of academia and industry? Or will they buckle under the strain of college coursework and a mercurial marketplace?

    If trends hold, two-thirds of students striding across stages this spring will head to college campuses this fall. Once dorm-room decoration is done and classroom rigors have begun, some will flourish, finding passion and purpose.

    Others may falter. In recent years, less than 20 percent of North Carolina high schoolers have met or exceeded all four "college readiness benchmarks" on the ACT college admissions exam in English, math, reading, and science.

    Why are many missing the mark? In 2012 North Carolina joined a growing number of states in requiring all public school juniors to take the ACT, college-bound or not. Scores understandably have declined as the testing pool has diversified and expanded beyond college aspirants.

    Still, results from multiple earlier years underscore our imperative. High school curricula must become more rigorous, rich, and relevant.

    What about the financial forecast? Stories of students consigned to indentured servitude to pay off college debt ― or worse, of those who default on their loans ― are widespread.

    And no wonder. At numerous private colleges, annual tuition and other expenses exceed $60,000. Debt is an albatross encumbering many, even students receiving grant-based aid or attending comparably affordable public universities. According to the Project on Student Debt, 61 percent of North Carolinians graduate from four-year public and private colleges with debt, owing an average of $24,319.

    Is college worth it? While not for everyone, college nonetheless confers an indisputable employment and earnings edge. According to a 2015 report from Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce, the unemployment rate for recent high school graduates is more than double that of recent college graduates.

    And the earnings gap has widened: "The overall wage advantage of college over high school has held up and even increased slightly as the earnings of both college and high school workers have fallen over the recession," notes the report.

    Seniors have heard the job talk with each passing year, and it has affected their expectations. A Gallup survey conducted this fall of more than 800,000 students in grades five-12 in 48 states, including North Carolina, found high school seniors were the least optimistic of any age group about their future job prospects.

    It's time to nurture hope. Hope is, in fact, a more "robust" predictor of success in college than high school grade point averages or even ACT and SAT scores, Gallup reports. And while data are useful for understanding perceptions and trends, they are but part of the story.

    The personal and particular remain. They comprise the rest and best of the story, and the students will do the telling themselves.

    I write this as a parent, not a dispassionate observer. My son is a member of the class of 2015. As he grasps his high school diploma, I won't ponder surveys or work force trends. I'll remember the first day of kindergarten, middle school dances, late-night homework sessions, those unending college applications, and the irrepressible excitement of a college dream fulfilled.

    And I'll be proud, so proud.

    To all of the other parents out there, and to the class of 2015, I have this to say: Well done. Anything is possible.