Category Archives: About KQED’s American Graduate
Public Media to Launch First-Ever AMERICAN GRADUATE DAY on September 22, 2012
September 21, 2012
September 22, 2012 is American Graduate Day, a multi- platform event featuring a live television broadcast, radio playlist with premiere documentaries, and participation from more than 20 national partner organizations, celebrities and athletes to spotlight solutions to the nation’s dropout crisis in which one in four students do not finish high school. Viewers and listeners will be encouraged to become an “American Graduate Champion” by offering their time, donating resources, connecting with the organizations on social media or learning more about the crisis. American Graduate Day is part of the public media initiative, American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen, made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB).
With special guests including Michael Powell, representing America’s Promise Alliance, and PBS NewsHour senior correspondent Ray Suarez, the national television broadcast will air live on public television stations from the Tisch WNET Studios at Lincoln Center from 1:00 to 8:00 p.m. EST on Sept. 22 (check their local listings). The event will feature 20 national organizations that are working with local public media stations to help young people stay in school and on track for on-time graduation, segments about local community groups, compelling stories from students themselves, and highlights from PBS national and local content – from PBS NewsHour and Need to Know to Jim Glassman’s Ideas in Action and Tavis Smiley Reports: Too Important To Fail. The broadcast will also include the premiere of a new student film from Reel Works New York and a preview of the upcoming FRONTLINE documentary, Dropout Nation.
Why Public Media?
Every year, approximately 1.3 million students drop out of high school — 7,000 students a day. On average, only 72 percent of America’s children graduate. Less than 60 percent of Latino, African American and Native Americans earn a high school diploma. For minority males, the number has been consistently near or below the 50 percent mark.
The economic impact of children dropping out of high school amounts to a third of a trillion dollars over their lifetimes in lost wages, productivity and taxes. The median earnings for individuals who do not complete high school are $12,000 a year. Those who receive a high school diploma receive, on average, an additional $10,000 a year. According to children who have left school and those at risk, dropping out establishes almost an insurmountable obstacle course for life, depriving a person of both opportunity and hope.
This is an American tragedy. But it is a tragedy we can correct.
American Graduate Initiative : Let’s Make It Happen
American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen builds on public broadcasting’s long-standing commitment to education by convening conversations and strengthening partnerships between public radio and television stations and local schools, businesses, and community organizations – all with the goal of helping students stay on course to graduate from high school.
CPB has provided funding to public television and radio stations in 60 markets where the dropout crisis is most acute to address the problem.
These stations will provide their resources and services to raise awareness, coordinate action with community partners and work directly with students, parents, teachers, mentors, volunteers and leaders to develop locally-based solutions to address the dropout crisis in their respective communities.