as we tar heels like to say, the sandlappers of south carolina aren't the shiniest pennies in the nation's cash register...

Mr. DeMinthe's comments on education really show the NeoCon attitude fo not educating Americans; to keep Americans subservient to the power and greedy only.

DuhMint sez: The Tree Rs our For Loosurs!

Eh, I'd say the difference between DeMint quoting a parent versus presenting the idea of >50% gang membership rates as his own isn't a trivial one. The Washington Times should issue a redaction and apology. Also the quote in the Post is different then the one in the Times, not just due to the attribution. "Chances are very good" is different then "chances are", the former just suggests a high probability, the latter suggests a greater then 50% chance.

He says enough miserable things to get outraged about, there's no need to falsely attribute things to him.

If only the DeMints of this country had moved to South Carolina and seceded!

Hi Steve,

Where did you get your numbers from? I dont want to take demint's side, but from everything i've read, dc's public schools are pretty bad and the graduation rate is low.

Matt Finkelstein also notes that South Carolina, DeMint's home state, has a graduation rate of almost 56%, making it far worse that D.C., and the fourth worst in the country. -- Steve Benen

Yeah, but in SC, the dropouts don't join gangs; they join Junior Republican League instead. So that's OK.

"The Washington Times misreported Senator DeMint's comments, they were not his opinion, he was in fact quoting a D.C. mother who had spoken to him this week of her concern for her child joining a gang," Denton wrote.

The plural of anecdote is NIGGERS!!!

Conservativizing sure is fun.

Somebody help me---please. What is it about South Carolina always seeming to be, and hatching "leaders" who are at the "fore-rear" of rational society? Is it the water? Or maybe too much humidity? Pellagra? Their history as indentured slaves? Phases of the Moon? Why is South Carolina always full of wackos?

Graduation rate numbers are complicated things, and getting the right numbers is difficult given the lack of consistent data.

DC may report a 70% graduation rate, but that's probably not accounting for a lot of students that they can't account for but aren't necessarily counted as "dropouts"

the link that Finkelstein uses refers to a story about Education Week's Diploma's Count report, which uses the Common Core of Data to Estimate graduation rates. (that's also where you get the 70% graduation rate nationally). These numbers are also a couple of years old due to the release of the data.

Using that method, SC's rate is indeed 56%, but DC's rate using that method is 58%, certainly below average. The point about SC still holds though.

The full study can be found at this link

http://www.edweek.org/ew/toc/2008/06/05/index.html

-jlinge-
the 56% graduation rate may have something to do with it.

-jlinge- Actually, South Carolina would not be a bad place to be if everything really falls apart. Most people there know how to grow food, raise animals, build things, fix things, and (believe it or not) get along with each other. Those are important values to them, and they have been bamboozled into thinking that the rest of the country finds those values contemptible. Of course, each of us can judge whether they have been bamboozled or if it's true that we find the values contemptible. For poor, not very well educated people, which many South Carolinians are, it is difficult to comprehend why they are despised.

This is no sort of defense of DeMint, who knows better than to spew the crap he does. But he's a pol.

You can quote the mother to relay her unreasonable fears and how he claims privatizing school will help.

He might be dead wrong, but noble motives are still plausible.

Graduation rates are sketchy. Some school districts have funny rules such as If a student moves in to the district in sophomore year and doesn't drops out... it doesn't count as a drop out... hinky stuff like that. There are dozens of other dodges that low ball the drop out rate.

North Carolina might be more honest than DC. Or maybe they just plain stink. Raw data is really needed for an apples to apples. It SHOULDN'T be this hard to find out where help is needed most but perverse incentives put in place by government reward this kind of deception. Private schooling has its own hinky tricks (expel the troublemakers, skim the best students, etc.) so I'm not for a moment suggesting government is evil. Further, if vouchers come into play, private schools start playing games with government regulations that produce crummy results too.

Of the 44% of DeMint's constituency that drop out of high school chances are very good they will join the only gang available, the KKK. Unfortunately DeMint sees this not as a problem, but a celebrated tradition.

Here's an idea,

if you're older than 20 you must have a high school diploma to have a driver's license.

No diploma, no car.

Make it a federal law.

"Most people there know how to grow food, raise animals, build things, fix things"

Just because you say you're fixin' to do something, it doesn't mean anything's getting fixed.

From limited information it seems to me that this headline could have read "Mothers worry about their children; Fear bad influences" in which case it's hardly surprising, and not particularly area specific.