Issue Position: College

Issue Position

Without a diploma, our kids don't stand a chance: Boys who quit school are far more likely to be unemployed and to cycle in and out of prison. Girls who don't graduate are ten times more likely to become teenage mothers.

But this is a problem we can fix.

It's time to get serious about closing the school-to-prison pipeline and make sure more Nashville kids get into college or technical training programs.

Let's start with solutions that reflect the complexity of the problems they face, from discriminatory policies that push kids out of school, to lack of funding and overcrowding, to students who come to school hungry and surrounded by violence.

It also means we need to freeze tuition rates, make higher education more affordable and student debt more manageable.

This is just common sense: The cure for closing the school-to-prison pipeline is a good job, and the place to start is with a good education.

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