Can we have our beef and eat it too?

Can our nation have both high academic expectations of its students and low dropout rates?

Writing on The Washington Post's Answer Sheet blog, Columbia University professor Justin Snyder makes a compelling argument that we can have our beef and eat it too. 

"There’s even evidence to suggest that higher standards and tougher, more meaningful work can lower the dropout rate." Snyder writes. "In fact, a 2006 study of dropouts, 'The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts,' found that two-thirds of dropouts say they would’ve worked harder if more had been demanded of them.