According to an editorial in the Boston Globe by a top adminsitrator at University of California, students aren’t always to blame for low graduation rates -- high school curriculums have a lot to do with it.

Vice Provost Russell W. Rumberger argues that school systems get locked into a dogmatic “college-ready” approach to academics that might actually be pushing kids away from paths to higher education. “In Chicago, a 2010 study found no positive effects on student achievement from a school reform measure that ended remedial classes and required college preparatory course work for all students,” Rumberger said, “High school graduation rates declined, and there was no improvement in college enrollment and retention rates among students who did graduate.”

He also says that though college readiness is important, strict academic standards may not be providing students with the skills they need. “A number of economists, including Nobel economist James Heckman, have documented the need for noncognitive or so-called soft skills in the labor market, such as motivation, perseverance, risk aversion, self-esteem, and self-control,” he said.

It’s not immediately clear how to teach students soft skills, but Rumberger says that engaging them is the first step. Rumberger cites a 2006 Civic Enterprises report called The Silent Epidemic, in which high school dropouts reported that the most common reason for leaving school was that classes were not interesting. The solution, Rumberger says, is creating more vocational and training programs—which studies show increase attendance and also the likelihood of jobs after graduation.

As an aspiring nurse, I was happy to hear about the Senate Finance Committee’s approval of a health care bill aimed at covering about 94% of Americans. With that many people getting medical care, you’d think the government would have thought about the workforce necessary to give that care.

Apparently it hasn’t.

The current health care bill doesn’t address the shortage in health care workers, especially primary care physicians. That affects nurses too because the more patients there are, the more doctors are needed. And the more nurses are necessary to support those doctors.

But even without an increase in patients, there’s already a nursing shortage.  I’m worried because once I become a nurse, I don’t want there to be too few healthcare workers to care for all the sick people. Patients will suffer and the doctors and nurses will get overworked.

Most of my friends from my hometown married their high school sweethearts, moved into houses in the same zip codes where their parents lived, and, like 19% of the nation's students, dropped out of high school.

I grew up in a farm community in San Joaquin Valley where graduating from high school was seen by some students as an unworthy battle. With a dropout rate of 34%, it matches Los Angeles' rate of 34.9%.