Recently, we've seen a new wave of ads supporting state-funded mandatory preschool. Without directly saying so, the idea behind running the ads now is to subtly infuse the notion in our heads over the next several months or year until we vote on a ballot initiative.

Besides the cost to taxpayers, which doesn't seem to get mentioned in these slick ads, there is the question of where the teachers will come from - something that's vitally important in Gilroy, where budget and results are already constant, pressing (and sometimes depressing) issues.

Picking up The Dispatch recently, I read that there's apparently even more reason to be concerned than I expected: There's an almost desperate shortage of special-education teachers in Gilroy. It's hard enough to find qualified teachers of any kind, and I'm not entirely sure that this problem will ever go away. Opening up mandatory preschool will only make the shortage worse.

Back to the pro-preschool ads: There's a not-too-subtle message that conveys the message that essentially says, "Kids who go to preschool are less likely to drop out of high school, and therefore less likely to turn to a life of crime." Hmmm. Many types of crime are already on the decline, unless you include war profiteering and corporate malfeasance. Most kids I grew up with didn't even go to kindergarten (it wasn't mandatory then), and yet virtually all have grown up to have decent lives outside of prison.

I was curious about the dropout rate and graduation rate of California, and of California vs. the rest of the country. I wanted to know if things are really dire and/or getting worse. So I did some hunting for information.

According to the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, the national average for high school graduation rates for 2004 was just under 75 percent. Surprisingly, this is about as good as it's ever been in the last half-century.

Meanwhile, the Pacific Research Institute, which bills itself as "a free-market think tank providing practical solutions for the issues that affect the daily lives of all individuals," says, "It is difficult to determine the real number of dropouts in California because of the state's inability to track individual students.

"They take a stab at it, and based on government and other statistics have estimated that statewide dropout rates have actually been declining for the past decade and a half (19 percent in 1992-'93 vs. 11 percent in 2001-'02). Now, the graduation picture certainly isn't particularly rosy. For 2001-'02, California's graduation rate was about 70 percent. (That doesn't take into account the number who later took the GED, though.) Compare that to Iowa, which graduates about 93 percent of its students.

A bigger fix than mandatory preschool has to be made, one that improves education at all levels and doesn't exclude those who are "dropout material." Not everyone has the money, the patience, or the inclination to sit through four years of college. And while an intellectual challenge is nice, most people are concerned about getting a decent job, not how many quarks can dance on the head of a pin.

College isn't particularly accommodating to those who like working with their hands. Some people are naturals at mechanics, plumbing, carpentry or other skilled crafts that are vital to society, and with the exception of community colleges, our higher education system has all but abandoned them.

A lot of college grads look down their noses at them, thinking that they aren't as smart or as important because they don't have a college diploma. But if water is pouring out of my kitchen wall at 3am, I'd rather see a plumber show up than a dozen people with Ph.D.'s in philosophy or particle physics.

There's another point, and it should be poked squarely in the ribs of our K-12 educators and the administrators.

According to state statistics, in the 2002 school year, of students entering the California State University system, 37 percent required remedial math and 49 percent required remedial English. aThe questions anyone with more than two brain cells should ask are, "Why are these kids being allowed to graduate?," "Why don't they have these skills?," "Why are they being admitted to a college in the first place?," and "Who is responsible?"

Getting kids into school at an earlier age to NOT learn what they're supposed to learn is an expensive alternative to whipping the current K-12 system into shape so that kids learn what they're supposed to know.