The graduation rate for some of the country’s worst schools is morbidly low. Detroit’s school system is one of these ailing districts, holding a graduation rate of less than 30%. Arne Duncan, the Secretary of Education, is endeavoring to turn these schools around or fall flat on his face. In the short run, Mr. Duncan wants to revamp 250 of the nation’s poorer schools, effectively burning and turning entire institutions and starting anew. This means thousands of teaching jobs will be available for qualified instructors who have the training and passion to make a positive difference in the lives of students.

According to The New York Times, 50% of high school students in America’s fifty largest cities are not graduating on time, with Detroit having the odious distinction of graduating less than 1 in 3 students in four years. The national graduation rate is about 70%, although figures show that one million students drop out of school every year. According to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, “When more than 1 million students a year drop out of high school, it’s more than a problem, it’s a catastrophe.”

So it is up to Mr. Duncan to rebuild our crumbling school system. His strategy of closing down terminally ill schools and only opening them when cured is one that has been effective in the past. In his role as Chief executive of Chicago public schools, Mr. Duncan closed down over a dozen of the city’s worst schools in order to systematically rebuild them from the bottom up. Trying this treatment on a national scale is going to be risky, but many believe it will also be very rewarding. Also, the necessity for new and qualified teachers in a market that is not exactly wanting for jobs is an added incentive to go forward with. In fact, having new and better teachers isn’t only an ancillary benefit of Duncan’s strategy; it is the focal point of it. According to the Academy of Urban School Leadership, teacher quality is a key factor in raising student achievement. So with the closing down of schools and hiring of capable teachers to teach America’s children, Mr. Duncan hopes to make a winning hand out of this educational gamble. Do you have what it takes to be a part of progress? Click here and find out.