Green Hope High School and Panther Creek High School were recently honored for their high graduation rates. While high graduation rates are commendable, given the socioeconomic level of the majority of the students who attend these two schools this achievement is not a remarkable result.

I have worked in schools at both ends of the spectrum. It is far easier to administer and teach at a school where parents are supportive and students are motivated to succeed. Schools whose students face problems such as inadequate medical care, lack of supervision, improper nutrition and hunger, responsibility for younger siblings, working to support a family, insufficient support and dangerous surroundings have a much more difficult task in teaching and achieving success.

Socioeconomic levels are directly related to academic success. As a society, we will all pay for these inadequacies.

Kim Martin

Cary