Advance equal educational opportunity

I lead a federally funded program at the University of Maine that gives low-income kids the tools they need to get into college and successfully graduate. This program provides services to more than 1,500 middle school and high school students in 16 different school districts across the state.

Our high school persistence and graduation rates are higher than any public school district in Maine. In addition, more than 88 percent of the 2003 high school seniors in our program began attending college this past fall.

The need for this program is not debatable and the disadvantaged students who we serve are consistently mentioned in national studies, referenced at most annual education conventions, and yes, cited by political candidates every time an election is held.

These pundits make the same profound points year after year. Poor students need more help to overcome financial, academic and social obstacles. Statistically, low-income students graduate from high school at much lower rates than the general population. Many who do graduate never consider college and very few who attempt their freshman year will ever see a cap and gown at graduation. As many research studies have shown, success in college is directly related to family income.

So why, when the facts are so vivid and the solutions are so obvious, do we, as a nation, consistently underfund programs to serve the students that need our help the most? Why do we continue to make the same mistakes and thus condemn millions of low-income, disadvantaged students to a life filled with academic disappointments and little opportunity for career and financial success?

As recently cited in President Bush’s 2005 budget proposal, “America faces many challenges in ensuring that young adults get the academic and work-related skills they need. High school test scores are declining, the cost of higher education continues to rise, and the percentage of minority and low-income students going to college remains unacceptably low.”

Yet, in spite of this overtly supportive statement, Bush decided for the third straight year that he would not increase funding to support the students we serve. In fact, our program and approximately 2,600 similar programs will be forced to cut services. Many low-income students will be turned away; many will be discouraged and ultimately waste their academic talents. This is a true American tragedy.

As an educator who has worked directly with low-income students for more than 28 years, I have watched how the lives of thousands of similar students have changed the direction of their lives. I know we can do better and I know we can do more.

I, for one, am tired of listening to political rhetoric year after year. I’m tired of candidates and other elected officials who use “smoke and mirrors” to mask the real challenges that exist in many of our high schools and colleges throughout America.

Regardless of the political outcome this November, I can only hope that our leaders will start working together to seriously address the obvious disparities in higher education. It seems all too obvious that programs that enable poor students to finish high school, enter college and succeed academically should be expanded significantly.

As a nation, we must do everything possible to advance equal educational opportunity. We must demonstrate, beyond the rhetoric, that we truly want to bring diversity to higher education – racially, economically and ethnically. Failure to invest in our human capital will only serve to fuel the disparities in educational opportunity and will continue to hurt our economy and ability to compete in the global marketplace.

David Megquier, of Hampden, is director of the Maine Educational Talent Search (METS) Programs & Maine Educational Opportunity Center (MEOC), and cooperating assistant professor of education at the University of Maine.