Puff, the Magic Dragon. Puff, the Magic Dragon (or Puff) is a song written by Leonard Lipton and Peter Yarrow, and made popular by Yarrow's group Peter, Paul and Mary in a 1963 recording. Lipton wrote a poem in 1959; Yarrow found it and wrote the lyrics based on the poem. After the song was released, Yarrow searched for Lipton and gave him half credit for the song.
MORE: Top four-year colleges. MORE: Top two-year colleges. But if you want to know how vets or military students are doing, you're out of luck. What's worse, one common statistic used to track academic success, the graduation rate, is calculated in a way that completely excludes most current and former troops.
The cohort graduation rate measures the cohortâs full experience in high school. I calculate the four-year graduation rate for Durhamâs first-time ninth graders from 2006-2007, at 56.9%, and the five-year rate at 61%. The state reports much higher rates, at 69.8% for the four-year rate and 76.4% for the five-year rate. The discrepancy is difficult to explain.