US high school dropout rate: high, but how high?
By Gail Russell Chaddock Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON
The national dropout rate is notoriously hard to pin down, and the latest effort to do so - showing alarmingly low graduation rates in some parts of America - is likely to intensify the statistics wars.
Nearly 1 in 3 high school students in the Class of 2006 will not graduate this year, the Editorial Projects in Education (EDE) Research Center reported Tuesday. ....
You may read the whole story at http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0621/p03s02-ussc.htm
What is the problem with our school system so that that one in every three students will drop out of high school?
135 comments:
I think that there might be several reasons to this question. A study I recently came across showed that in most American major cities the dropout rates get close to 50% and over in some cities.
It can be said that part of it is poverty and the way things function in this country. One can still make a decent living not finishing high school and getting a job along with welfare. Specially for mothers that become baby machines.
If one compares the emphasis placed towards education in nations such as India, a lot of interesting views begin to appear. For example, there is not enough colleges in India so graduating from high school does not guarantee you anything in life. I saw a documentary that stated that sometimes Indian students have to compete with thousands and thousands in students for placement in a low level class.
Their path to survival and saving their family is education. As I stated earlier, people can still live comfortable here(not nicely if I may say so, but "comfortable") without high school education.
Another thing is that too many kids this days are getting a GED. I think another reason may also be a socio-cultural one. Some studies show that kids avoid school due to the fact that they find it stressful and think they will be made fun of.
Is it that school is getting to rough and kids are getting meaner? I can see it being possible. According to the American association of pediatrics, a child's self-steem drops tremendously from the time they enter high school to their senior year. Coincidence? perhaps, but I highly doubt it.
Overall, I think it's a combination of elements. Poor people are getting poorer and the system is getting much more rough. However, I think there might be hope for the future.As the wheels turn and we continue to move into the age of globalization, kids won't be as spoiled anymore. They will see that the jobs they once did easily, others are doing now. It might encourage kids to follow a higher education and not be as spoiled.
I think that there are adequately many reasons why our high school drop-out rate keeps rising. One of them that is probably the most popular reason is teenage mothers and fathers. Raising a baby while attending school is a very difficult thing for a teenager to endure. Therefore, their solution? Dropping out. Another reason I think is just pure lack of motivation and inspiration. My mother was just recently telling me that back when she was my age, all you needed was a high school diploma and/or GED and you could get almost any job of your choice. Today, a minimum requirement for an occupation is a Bachelor's Degree, if that. So I think that teenage take these standards into hand and contemplate whether to even finish high school because college is obviously going to take them a lot longer than what they would believe. With the inevitable increasing poverty in our society, this could be another HUGE reason why so many kids are dropping out. A lot of parents can't afford to send their teenager to a nice school; therefore they might have to send them to a school that wasn't on their list. This school could positively or negatively affect their teenager’s life for the next four years. As I said in a previous post about my cousin being a homosexual, what I didn't mention was that he dropped out of high school his junior year because of the malicious comments he was receiving everyday from his fellow classmates. Bullying and discrimination in high school can result in a teenager's dropping out. In conclusion, I believe that there is a wide array of reasons why teenagers are dropping out of high school and why the statistics are rising because of those generalizations.
There are so many reasons why the U.S. dropout rate for highschool students; one being overcrowded schools. The schools today are overcrowded and understrengths; if a student wanted to ask a question or needed extra help there are so many other students that the teacher must help that it's no wonder so many kids give up. First the give up trying to get the help they need, then hey give up doing the assignment, til they give up completely:hence, dropping out. It's no excuse but it is definently a contributing factor.
Not only does overcrowded schools play a key role in high dropout rates among highschool students but so does the financing it takes to provide quality education. For instance the financing it takes to get descent, qualified teachers.
There are more than one reasons why there is such a high dropout rate in America. One of the main reasons is because of teenage pregnancy. In my high school class I knew three girls who ended up dropping out of high school because they were pregnant. Some high schools don't even allow pregnant teenagers because they are afraid it may make their school look bad and they wind up telling them to leave. Drugs may also be another reason people drop out. More and more teenagers are getting involved with drugs which will affect the way they think and act; therefore, they act out and drop out. Another reason why there are so many dropouts is because people feel that they can find a decent job without having to go to college, so they feel that they don't need any further education in high school. If a person or family is poor, they don't want to have to spend the money for school when they can be working and making money.
I think that there are many reasons for this high school drop out rate. For one, I think the heavy partying associated with college has become very prevalent with high school students. I can remember my junior year already hearing about keg parties, being thrown and attended by my fellow students. And it is difficult to study and be successful in classes when you are more focused on getting plastered every weekend. Also, teenage pregnancy is a factor in this country. From my personal experience, I feel like another contributing factor is the lack of attention in public schools. I know I thrived while I attended a small, personable private school, but in high school I unfortunately developed a bad philosophy. To the majority of teachers you are a number in crowded schools, and I thought "If they don't care if I turn this assignment in or do well on this exam, then why should I?". My grades obviously went down while I thought this way, and I can see other students feeling the same way. Luckily I realized I was being an idiot, and changed my study habits.
Are school system is ridiculous! They set standards that they know a lot of individuals will not be able to meet. They want us to fail. See some of these children live in single parent homes where they do not have anybody to encourage them to do better. Or some dropout to help their parents make ends meet. If the government would help these single parents maybe the dropout rate will decrease. Because then parents can spend more time with their teenagers. However, i came from a single parent home. It was hard. It was up to me to do better because my mom could not keep up with are progress in school. My motivation was to make my mom proud. My brother dropout his sophomore year in high school because he had no role model or guidiance due to my parents divorce. In summary, the dropout rate is due the living conditions at home that these teenagers have to deal with.
The dropout rate might not even have anything to do with the school system. Most students are aware of the financial pressure put on their families. Therefore, they end up taking work more serious than school and overall lose sight of the big picture. Coming in tired from work and having to face homework can be tiring to some students. At this point, putting in enough hours at your job to get a decent paycheck on pay day can cause one to overlook the benefits of getting an education. You also have to remember that the oldest child is the one with the most pressure put on them to "do there part" which translates into being able to help out financial when needed.
I believe the dropout rate is so high because kids don't take school seriously. That school systems have a hard time adjusting so quickly to the popular culture of apathy may be true. However, I don't believe they should be to blame. Not primarily, at least.
Too often do parents blame school systems and teachers for mistakes they themselves are making with their children. Perhaps parents neglect to discipline their children enough, and, for example, tell their children that it more important that they be happy than for them to study. Or, even if they don't teach this, perhaps their family relationships weren't strong enough to take precedence over other, less-disciplined influences.
For those without families, or with families that are broken apart and dysfunctional, perhaps there is more weight placed on the school system for the responsibility of keeping kids in school. But even still, I believe extended family and community groups would and should be more accountable for whether or not they drop out.
Maybe the answer to all the drop-outs is having each class participate in a blog?
Kids drop out for all kinds of stupid and understandable reasons. Some become addicted to drugs, and don’t care about school anymore. Some leave to work, or raise a family. Then some are just pussies and ‘can’t handle the pressure’ of being in school. As far as I’m concerned, the schools and parents don’t make it very hard to drop out. One girl I knew my sophomore year couldn’t take it anymore, socially, which I thought was ridiculous and she had her mom come in and basically sign her out of school. She got her GED, and is fine with that. Another guy I knew made it all the way to his junior year, and his ‘anxiety’ was so bad, he just walked in one of the offices and got himself checked out. That was it, no big deal. No one tries to stop these kids, and as far as I know, no one really cares. Dropping out and getting your GED shouldn’t be such an easy option to take, because of course all the lazy unmotivated losers are gonna take the easy way out if they can. I do understand that some people don’t have much of a choice, when they have a child or family in need, but everyone else that drops out for petty reasons is shit to me. If they want to work at fast food joints the rest of their life, let them. I have no remorse for some of those people.
“Your mind tells you that you've lost your confidence
You're drifting and you don't believe in anyone
To lose what little you have left to be proud of
Afraid you can't do this again,
Everything about you has been one big charade
What will you do now that the well's run dry? Cry?
To sell out all your friends and stab them in the back
It's something that you are; it's something that I'm not…”
I believe there are several reasons why the US high school dropout rate is high. I think the man cause starts in the teens home. As it is said "we are a reflection our parents." If you live in a poor community more than likely the parent or parents dropped out of school when they were younger. Some teens will look up to their parents and realize maybe there isn't much more to our world and don't care about getting their eduacation. More than likely if your parents are poor then you will too. The other reason can be the school system. Once again if you live in a urban or poor community the school system may not have much money. This means less educational oppurtunities for students. The pay for teachers can possibly be a lot lower than other districts.
There are many reasons why the US drop out rate is so high. Some of the reasons include: teen pregnancy, discrimination, and influences. Many young girls today are finding out they are pregnant while in high school. When this takes place many of their parents leave it to them to raise the baby. When the child is born the teenage girls are forced to drop out of school so they can get a job to pay for the baby’s expenses. Another reason is there is a high amount of discrimination in high school. Many teenage kids get made fun of for their race, the way they dress, the way they like to wear their hair, sexual orientation, or disabilities. The discrimination adds up and they decide to drop out and get a GED because for them it seems so much easier. This way they are able to get away from the torture. Also, I think it is from the child’s influence. If the parents aren’t willing to help the child with homework or if they did not graduate that doesn’t motivate them to try and graduate. I think a lot of teenagers have to be motivated to complete high school or anything that they don’t want to do.
There are many reasons that a high school student may drop out before they graduate. It’s not necessarily the schools’ fault but probably a mixture of things. Like I know from the 2-3 people that I knew of who dropped out their senior year, they barely came to school and when they did come never wanted to participate in anything. When you reach the age of 16 there is the option of not continuing school. But normally there is the constant parent reinforcement. Not every student had that but those who KNOW that graduating is a big deal, those students do stay. Also, there is the standardized testing that each school board county has and some boards will not allow a student to receive his/her diploma without passing the tests. If a student realizes that they may not pass it no matter how many times he/she has taken it, he/she just might give up all together. This was the case of someone else I knew. The dropout rates in our society are great but are not caused by just one thing. It has to do with the student, the student’s home life and or social life and also how well they do in school.
I personally believe it is not the school only but the environment to which these students live in. An example is let say you are living in a gang infested neighborhood and every gang member wants to recruit you in their gang. But you want to avoid this and become something of yourself. You know that school is important because with education you are free but the neighborhood has its toll on you, what do you do? You avoid them at all costs but you hear the gunshots every night and hear the drive-by shootings. Apparently there are no cops around to assist or not enough cops period. But the United States as a country love to announce to the American people that crime has dropped “#%” in the past year. You see nothing being done. As a student living in these conditions very few make a change and say “I will never become another person to this equation” and graduate. For the majority of students, they in a way don’t have a choice, they must join and they will never graduate.
Well, the politics of education have been blown out of the water. All these test kids are given to see how they're doing takes a LOT of valuable time from their regular classroom lessons. On top of that, lots of kids are allowed to move up when they should be held back because school's are afraid of getting a bad reputation; ending up in less money from the Federal Government. Which by the way, gives the money to schools who don't need it as much as some others. Then teachers find themselves with kids who are so far behind, they can barely handle them, and they become these "lost-causes", eventually pushed till they drop. Plus, although teachers aren't teaching for the extrinsic rewards, money does make the world go round, and its always getting more expensive. So of course teachers will become discouraged when they're lives are full of stress, and that plays a part in the classroom. Along with the stress, they are expected to teach way too much these days. As if the curriculum (which is made up of people who've usually never taught in a single classroom) isn't enough, parents feel free to slack on their end because "the school should be teaching them that stuff." I'm talking about morals, appropriate behavior, self-image,...etc. It's a tough life as a teacher these days, and vise versa for the students. Does anyone stop to think, maybe its not the wheel that needs to be reinvented, but the society that's providing the riders of that wheel? Kid's are exposed to such horrible things at such early stages now days, (bad role-models, murder cases, horror movies that take it WAY too far,...) that it's not surprising that so many are on anti-depressants. If they don't feel happy about life, what makes u think they'll ever be enthusiastic or strive to learn? The question is, are we past the point of no return, or can we still save ourselves, our future?
I Personally Think There Isn't Much You Can Say About The School System. I Feel Everyone Has A Choice And If They Choose To Drop Out Of High School, It's Their Fault. It May Not Be Because The School Is Hard. Lately, From What I've Seen Or Heard From Friends Of Mine, Many People Have Been Getting Pregnant And Due To That, It Was Hard For Them In School So They Dropped Out. Basically, I Think It All Pertains To How Their Lifestyle Is Going Rather Than Talking Down On The School System. The Only Problem I Feel With The School System Is That They Expect Too Much. They Give So Much That It Interrupts People Who May Live In Poverty Or Just Plain Out Have Troubles Out Side Of School. I Suggest That Schools Lighten Up Just A Little Bit And I Think We May See A Decrease In The Drop Outs. But All In All, I Still Feel It's The Person's Overall Choice On What They Do. It's Not The Schools Fault. They Don't Tell You To Drop Out.
I think that a lack of motivation proves to be the main reason why students drop out of public schooling. Im not in high school anymore, obviously, however I am still a teenager and am 7 months pregnant. I have never in my 12 years of public schooling had more motivation than from the moment I found out I would be bringing another life into this world. Being pregnant certainly did not make me resort to dropping out, it gave me an incentive to STAY in school. I can imagine it would be difficult to be pregnant in high school(we all know how quickly rumors and drama can fly though there) but it's not like you become mentally handicapped and cant do your school work anymore. I'd like to point out so others are aware, college is entirely free for me now(or any single parent for that matter)so having to worry about paying for my education has completely gone away. Also I want to correct what "gjones17" had said concerning teen pregnancy in high school and how some highschools dont allow pregnant girls. This is the most bogus statement I've ever heard (sorry to put that so bluntly, just being honest). Because of the NCLB, No Child Left Behind Act, not only does a highschool not have the authority to do that, it is also against federal law for a highschool to "kick out" an individual for the fact that she is pregnant. You dont even have to be a legal citizen to attend public schooling in the US according to the law.
I think there are a lot of struggles and obstacles thrown in everyones way; some of us overcome them and some of us choose to give up (or in this instance- drop out). Overall I belive it has to do with the motivation that particular individual has.
I believe that there are several reasons why this country has such a dramatic high school dropout rate. One of the reasons is that schools in many cities do not receive the necessary funds for things like science labs, textbooks, literature, and even classroom supplies. I am sure that students in these schools probably feel (perhaps subconsciously) as though their government does not care about them or their education, so it must not be that important. I also believe that there are many single parent families that exist in which an older child, or children, is responsible for working and aiding in providing for the family. Many schools do not consider things like this when giving certain assignments; also, school today can cost one a lot of money (books, computer programs, project supplies, etc) which also makes it hard on students that are underprivileged. Unfortunately, the No Child Left Behind Act only provides money for schools in which students score high on state testing, when it is really the schools that have students doing poorly that are in desperate need of this government aid.
I do not think drop outs are majorly due to the schooling system more so then just how people feel about eduation now days. Some kids just cannot stand school and absolutely cannot make themselves go to class and pass. Some teens are lazy and got into the wrong things and as a result drop out. Some teens get pregnant and cannot handle the work load. Some teens travel a lot becuase of their parents so they decide to just skip some of the useless years in high school and start up in college. Whatever the reason be that one out of three students drop out, I really do not think the school system could do that much to change it completely back to before.
Guys
You are an encyclopedic source on the matter. No kidding. You've seen far more than I have with the high school system, so I accept what you say.
Fporzio and Heather
You are right about the limitations of the NO Child Left Behind. But as Heather noted, there are many good sides to it as well.
Steve
As you know I presented the blog to colleagues during the professional development day last Thursday and the reaction was an unadelterated enthusiasm. People from Humanities, Math, English Lit and Nursing, (yes, nursing) are opening blogs to have online discussions with students. Some created it right there and then.
Needless to say, I feel sorry for you guys if you register for all these classes at the same time :(((
(Just kidding...)
From the Georgia Family Connection Partnership site I copy the following consequences of dropping out:
Earnings Potential. Employed dropouts in a variety of studies reported working at unskilled jobs or at low-paying service occupations offering little opportunity for upward mobility.
This leads to other secondary, indirect problems:
Public Assistance. Dropouts comprise nearly half of the heads of households on welfare.
Single Parents. This increased reliance on public assistance is likely due, at least in part, to the fact that young women who drop out of school are more likely to have children at younger ages and more likely to be single parents than high school graduates.
Prisons. The individual stresses and frustrations associated with dropping out have social implications as well: dropouts make up a disproportionate percentage of the nation’s prisons and death row inmates. 82% of America’s prisoners are high school dropouts.
I think that there are numerous reasons we see more and more students dropping out. I think one of the oldest and consistent reasons is poverty. I think for teens with poor family once you get to high school you start hitting the age where people might hire you for work. Before that most people wont hire a young teen. Once we hit the age of 16 we can drive and become more eligible for those jobs. When I family is struggling there are many who find it necessary to quit school and start earning revenue.
I think another reason might be that there are so many options today. There are many decent paying jobs that people can do well in, especially when seniority comes into play. Some people just start their own businesses or just decide to go their own way and our culture has moved so far toward being "accepting" of what others want it has simply opened a window. GED is also popular and I think some would rather try for that and work to make money sooner especially if they have not intentions of ever going to college. I think it just depends on the person for the reason "why".
Our dropout rates are high in certain areas because poverty and the sense of hopelessness is prevalent in those same areas. A lot of kids feel as if there’s no point to trying to graduate so they get distracted. Many of the schools with high dropout rates are located in poor areas where the teachers have little more motivation to teach than the students have to learn. There’s a psychology of hopelessness there. I don’t believe that so many kids would be dropping out of school if they felt like there was a point to staying.
Yes, there may be a high drop out rate, but i do not think you can pin point the exact reasons for that. You could say its due to teenage pregnancies, but that doesnt account for all instances. It all depends on what part of the country you go to. It doesnt always necassarily have a reason for dropping out, it could be the kid just doesnt like school or is strictly too lazy. My best friend dropped out his senior year, he lives in a good home and has a good family. He simply dropped out because he didnt want to go to school and now he regrets that decision everyday of his life. The reasons for a high drop out rate i dont think can ever be exactly determined.
I believe like many others that there are many resons to why many drop out of high school. Many things can go through a teenager's mind, specially wen there is so much peer presure. One of the reasons i think it might be that some of them just dont like school,and they get out at soon as they can. Other might not have a choice for example, if a girl is pregnant and her parents does not want to help her, she might have no choice but to drop out of school and work. Like this one there are many other reasons why the the rate of dropouts is so high.
I think the biggest reason for a higher dropout rate is because of lack of discipline and guidance from there parents. I think most kids today get away with a lot more than in the past. In the past parents would beat there kids butt if they playing around and not doing good in school, now it's just no cell phone for a week. Also in the past many families were one income families where the mom could stay come and make sure the kids were doing there homework, now it is very hard to make it on just one income, giving kids less guidance at home. For example home schooled kids have a much higher graduation rate than public schooled kids. So I think most of the blame should be with the parents making sure there kids get there education.
I believe there are a few principals for high school dropouts. A lot of the minorities here in the United States come from foreign countries to make money and support one another, and their job no matter at what age, is a lot more important to them than schooling at the moment. My mother is a teacher and she tells me that she sees Mexican children taken out of school at a certain time of the year because the parents need them to work on the laboring, and as they grow older some of them think they have a paying job to satisfy the money hunger, or they have just missed so many days out of the year that they are retained and do not want to keep working at it. Also the lack of education provided at schools that retain bilingual or none bilingual students from succeeding in major exams like the FCAT’s here in Florida. Besides boring teachers, the schools have encountered the drug and alcohol introduction in which teens get involved and as we all know is harmful and addictive.
I am going to go ahead and agree with the point Stevie-d made. I remember when I was in high school there was kids that skipped a couple of days a week. They didn't take education seriously at all and their parents were usually irresponsible and let them do so.
In my entire high school career I missed like 4 days. all 4 of those days I was either extremely sick or was out traveling with the family. I don't know how parents let their kids get so out of line. If I talked back to my parents I probably wouldn't be able to feel the right side of my face right now.
There isnt a simple answer to this question. Just as high schools differ from one another, so do the teachers that make up each high school, as well as the students that attend. The obvious answers would include high class room sizes, low funding for supplies, underpaid teachers. Another problem is teenagers raising kids--where not only are they not able to perform their best in school but in the future their children will not have the same opportunities and support as those whose parents had them at an older age. Also, if a student's first language is not english than he/she is bound to have a difficult time in school and may dropout as well. Culture of course plays a HUGE roll in this as well because it influences students. Yes college is a common desire of students, but so is drinking and partying and experiencing the "high school years" which can actually hinder one's ability to do well in school.
Who knows what the problem is with our school system. Who says our school system is to blame? I dropped out the first month into my senior year. Why? I could not tell you exactly. I know the idea of sleeping in and eating all day sounded pretty good. I did come from a single parent home, but my mother was not a push over. She has always instilled in me the value of an education. I think it mainly has to do with the child doing what they want to do, some way of being in control of their lives. I know it is a stupid way to “control” your life, but making a decision as big as dropping out can make you feel like you are calling the shots in your life, not your parents or your teachers. About eight months after dropping out of school, I came out of my fog and realized I still had a chance to fix a huge mistake I had made. I went back to school the following year and got my high school diploma. I wish people would stop trying to blame someone or something. Some kids are just lazy and want to do what they want to do.
As the son of an educator I can tell you that many many parents in recent years really do expect that the school system will be raising their children. My mother has told me all sorts of stories about parent conferences that either didn't happen at all because the parents just didn't show up or went horribly because the parents were irate over the fact that their son or daughter was not doing well. Many children these days are being raised in a single parent home, which takes away from the ability of those parents to monitor their children's progress and can in many cases lead to the expectation that the school is responsible for teaching their children basic things like manners or other social skills, when in fact the school is there to expand on and add to the skills a child should be learning at home. Combined with the fact that schools have always been staffed by teachers who are underpaid for the work that they do and the stress levels in any school can easily become unmanageable. Stressed out teachers who are responsible for teaching kids who are pushed away for whatever reason from their parents adds up to an undesirable educational experience for anyone. It doesn't surprise me to see a lot of dropouts because the students are often not getting the attention they deserve in school. My high school algebra teacher used to assign problems out of the book for us to work on with barely any review or instruction and then get upset when we asked for help. I can't even tell you how many times she told my class that none of us would amount to anything more than janitors. Motivating? Nope. This kind of thing is only compounded now by the fact that schools are required to prepare kids for all the standardized testing that is in place now. Instead of even attempting to teach and explain, teachers are required to spend a disproportionate amount of time preparing for the tests. I can't imagine being in high school these days. The other influences: teenage pregnancies, drug use, necessity or desire to skip it all and go get a job, all play a role as well. I believe it all starts in the home though. Children need their parents, and it's unfortunate when the parents either don't care or can't be there.
Although, I agree with the many reasons, statistics and arguments thatprove the percentages about teenage pregnancy and violence in school, however,I believe the main reason for high school drop outs is this: I feel that children who aren't encouraged and supported enough to learn in school to the fullest. I do understand that many children have disadvantages or perhaps they have a learning disabilities, attention problems, or many other health issues. But generally, children that have these issues are being cared for with the family and school network.
These kids are encouraged to prosper. However,there is the other problem at hand, it is the non-supportive families, and the trained professionals who see it everyday and no longer can do anything for the young individual.
Unfortunately, many homes across America have families that the parent(s)does not have the intelligence themselves to support a child in the school system acheive academically. The signs are there: repeats of failing in class levels, low testing scores, low stanine scores, ect..., the list of test scores go on and on. Kids with low scores need more attention, more mentors, more support from trained professionals, whatever the situation may call for. If the parents can support a young child to learn somehow the professionals must. Let's face it, getting an education has many obstacles for most, however everyone born has a talent, desire, and will to learn.
It is until the desire is lost that we loose individuals of all ages, which then leads to other ecnomical problems like full prisons and juvenille halls.
I grew up in the Detroit public school system, and my home live proved my theory as well as other families I observed while growing up. My mother had a 7th grade education, my father was a laborer, and no one had the time or desire to impose the study ethics and habits required to acheive academically. This too, was the style of many of my peers homes. Troubled teens were never dealt with, just ignored, they were never encouraged, just set aside. This led to many of my peers to loose their desire to attend school any longer. I remember hearing alot of "well I'll just get a GED" why pick a general education over an academic strategy that will give a well balanced education and allow you to explore almost all subjects of the world. So little emphasis and support has been placed on education for years. Now it must be recognized and dealt with.
Perhaps, more outreach programs to provide a source of free training for young families in need, to help support their young child(ren) in school.
Mdowd
I hear that on parents' nights the only parents that show up are the ones of good students. Then we get quite a few of grandparents.
It’s unfortunate that the dropout rates are so high. I personally think that standardized testing has something to do with it. Schools are so busy teaching the standardized test they don’t stop and look at what the kids in the classroom need or want to learn. Students that struggle with these test realize that they can’t graduate without passing them, so they get discourage and they dropout instead of getting the help they need and study. It also doesn’t help with the American dream where you have all these get rich scams. They see actors and actress like Nicole Kidman that have no high school diploma and they figure they can do the same. I have a friend that thinks like this and I think the only reason he did get his high school diploma is so that people would get off his back.
I also feel that the schools are not doing the best they could to help the students with kids stay in school. There are some high schools that do have daycare for kids, but I do think there should be more schools that have them. There are some that say that would promote teenage pregnancy, but I think that if it helps the mother or the father get there high school diploma and move on to a better job than it is worth it.
There is no one reason teenagers drop out of high school. Many different situations can cause someone to drop out. Some teenagers have family issues and feel as though they need a job to help support their loved ones. Other students make mistakes and can end up pregnant at a young age, which means they have someone who needs their care and attention making school seam imposable. This is not always the case with every drop out; some students have no motivation for going to school other than to see their friends. Students can sometimes feel as though it is useless to get an education. There are still more reasons like inattentive parents who never made the child go to school, which caused them to fall behind. Not every student who falls behind has the discipline to catch up or the will to repeat a year of school. Yet another reason for dropping out is because the student does not understand what they are learning. No one likes to feel unintelligent and when seeing their classmates able to understand the lesson and apply it when they cannot sometimes discourages students to learn. With larger class sizes these students do not receive the individual attention they need. Dropping out of school seams to many to be the easy solution to all of their problems. There is no one reason for dropping out of high school just as there is no one solution to fix the rate. Each student has a different reason and some feel as though they don’t even need an excuse.
Most of the time when students dropout of high school, there's usually a chance they will go back to an adult school to get their GED and go to work, trade school, or college. On the other hand young girls become pregnant and dropout, some students feel their lacking education, or have to get a job to support their house hold income. I once had an friend in high school that always had an problem getting up on time in the morning for school and was often absent from school because of that so she decided since it took her so long to get up in the morning and the traveling distance to school she dropout and got her GED and went to and trade school then to work. It was kind of crazy for her to dropout for her laziness but I'm happy in the end she went to get her GED and so on.
The question raised is, what’s wrong with our school system so that one in three students drop out of school. I think that statistic is inaccurate. I graduated just last year, in 2007, and there was not one third of my graduating class missing. Even observing from my classes freshman year, all the way to our senior year, one-third didn’t drop out. Yes, there are students dropping out, but I wouldn’t place the blame on the schools. I would turn to the students parents, and the student himself. Where are that persons goals. Do they have any goals? Do they want to move forward in the future?
I think there are many reasons, why our high school students are dropping out of school. I think some of the student drop out because they think they not smart enough, school is not for them, got pregnant at a very young age, or have divorce in their family, or maybe is hard to understand some of the material they have in school, especially now we have the standardized test, where most teacher is focus on teaching those student on how to take those test but not teaching them what they will need to learn for in their lifespan. I also think is, lack of self esteem. Where at the same time I would say it is negligent because some of those students in this country know the important of school. They just want to make a living by just flipping burger at Burger King, or Mc Donald, Wendy’s etc…
I feel the increasing number of high school drop outs could be from several factors. The problem doesn’t only come from the school districts themselves but is also a result of parents lack in disciplinary actions & morals being taught to their children, the students. I feel parents are becoming more lenient. I was taught you complete high school no matter what there is no other option. In my sisters case she (as I was) is mature for her age, making high school feel more like a dramatic sopapra than a place of education. The social import ants and pressure of popularity is a huge distraction and causes those who are there to learn to bail out due to social stress and annoyance. My sister gratefully stumbled across an alternative route to high school called collegiate high school offered at Polk community college. This is a program which allows high school juniors and seniors to attend community college instead of their local high school. There are two routes one allows those how qualify to not only graduate with a high school diploma but also earn an associate’s degree at the same time, the other route is for those with lower GPAs allowing them to only graduate with a high school diploma. In conclusion each drop out case is different and until all reasons for students dropping out are discovered no solution can be made.
I think there are many reasons that we have such high dropout rates in America . I always hear in the news how we so over crowded in our schools and how school budgets are always being cut.How are kids suppose to get a good education if we are not giving our schools enough resourses to help the kids that are having a tough time in school. If there are to many kids in one class how is the teacher suppose help each one of them. I also think parents play an important role in a childs education keeping up with there progress and makin syre there getting help at home.I always hear how in other countries there education is far more advance and here in the U.S.A we have parents complaining about to much homework .
I think the major contributing factor for dropping out of the school system is the financial side of things. As students get older they get jobs to earn some money and have cars and things like that. Once a student starts earning money, especially if its good money, they think about the things they can buy with the money they are earning. This makes students work more and more because they learn the more they work the more they earn. I know this from my personal experience. I started to work my sophmore year in high school, and i thought i was earning good money. I was making around $7.00 an hour + tips (which were about $40 a shift). I started to work about 40hrs a week and trying to balance that on top of a full day of school five days a week was extremely hard. The money drove me to do it, the more i worked the more i made, it was addicting in a weird way. I haven't changed today but now im a server at the same resturant and are making around 1000 a week. This is good money concidering im only 19. I still am a full time student but here at HCC. I work about 40hrs a week still but thats only in five days. I go to school all day tuesdays and thursdays so my days off from work are completely filled. I have had thoughts about dropping out of school and working even more to earn more a week but i know that it would be a stupid decision because what if i were to get fired?? I am about 2 years from completion and are not giving up yet. My weeks are hard and i am ready for a break from both work and school. A vacation is unheard from my point of view but i think my body needs one. I am young and know that i can do this now that i am young but when i get older i wont be able to work so much. School is nearly over and it will be worth it in the long run. This money incentive is why i think most kids drop out over anything. They may have children and need to work full time just to support them. Overall i think that if they are like me they will get tired and think about dropping out. The thing they have to find out is if they are weak and can't handle both. Im lucky i can, others maybe not.
Phillyfan
Many students are going through the same difficulties. Most stick around. Some, we lose. After a few years, however, many do come back. So, do stick around! :)))
The problem with the school system in my opinion is not so much the system but the student and there influences at home. I was raised to go to school get my education because that was important to make something of yourself in society. If the students are given a goal or even some encouragement as they progress through school it would help in some cases and others may come from single parent home that may not have the support they need. If they come from single families they may not think they have the finances they need to go to college. The thought of not being able to go any further may discourage some and have them rethink their goals.
I don’t think there is an actual problem with the school system, as much as parents aren’t doing their part. It seems everyone wants to point the finger at someone else for their own inadequacies and who better than the government. I am of the opinion that you shouldn’t need to rely on anyone. There is no one in this world that has your best interest in mind over yourself. It’s a dog eat dog world and if you rely on people for everything you’re not going to get far. Everyone should take responsibility for themselves and gratefully accept any assistance anyone gives them to include the government. If, as a parent, you are unable to control and teach your children with out the assistance of the government there is a problem. I believe it’s on the individual parent to teach their kids the value of education, and to encourage them to stick with anything they do. If a boy is building a model airplane, don’t let him give up and leave it unfinished. If a girl is on a soccer team that sees continual losses, don’t let her quit. Instead help her become a better player so her skill can help carry the team. Moreover, once a kid is in high school, don’t let them just quit school. All my life growing up I quit everything I started. It would get old or I would get board with it and I almost dropped out of school out of laziness. But my parents made things very difficult for me and wouldn’t let me. They learned from it and have raised my siblings much differently.
I think a major reason that kids drop out of school in certain areas of America is because there is not a lot of opportunity to advance to college in those areas. In Florida we have bright futures which helps pay for 75% or 100% of tuition for all four years of college as long as you keep your grades up. In my high school almost everyone that applied got it and not all that many of the kids that applied were necessarily "smart". Other states do not have this program and college is expensive so if you are not going to go to college the mentality of those kids is probably.....why even bother with high school at all?
I believe that a part of the reason the United States has such a high dropout rate has to do with the home setting. I know that if it wasn’t for my dad pushing me every night to study, get all my homework done and get into bed at a decent hour I am not sure if I would have turned out the way I have. I think having a strong backbone at home helps teenagers get their diploma and walk across the stage. If you don’t have any type of support or drive from your family then some students think why finish. Why do you think so many freshmen college students don’t do good their first year because they are away from home which there is freedom.
I agree with almost all the comments that I have read so far. There are many reasons why there is such a high dropout rate in high schools these days. Drugs, parties, overcrowded schools, pregnancies and lack of family support are just some of the few major reasons. High schools are more worried about having fun then doing their work, and if someone doesn’t make them do it then it won’t ever get done. I don’t think that schools are as welling to work with students and their problems, due to so any kids these days have so many problems.
A lot the problem with dropping out is that the support system at home may be seriously lacking. I remember being sixteen, and it seemed to take a miracle to peel my butt out of bed to get to school. However, my mother was always there pushing me and reminding me that I needed school and it was a privelege to have it. When you have kids who come from bad homes or any other kind of less that ideal situation there is going to be problems. Drpping out may have a small part to do with the school systems, but I think that the larger part comes from the lack of drive and support that many young students deal with.
The high rate of students dropping out of school is disappointing. I feel that there are several factors which can be attributed to this. However, I am a firm believer that it is the parent’s job to instill the importance of education in their children. Unfortunately, there will always be children who don’t want to listen to their parents. They refuse to believe that education is needed to obtain a good job to support yourself and one day a family. But it seems as too many kids are making life changing decisions as teenagers based on the lack of parent’s involvement. Most parents can always say that their children have more then they did as a child. Not only material items but also access to extracurricular activities, education, etc. It is natural for us to want to provide our children with items or choices we did not have growing up. But we cannot loose site of importance of education. Of course they are going to be eager to work and earn money to get the items their friends have or purchase a car. As a parent I feel it is our job to place limitations unless school comes first. I have a 14 year old son who is told repeatedly that school is his job, his top priority. Unless he maintains good grades he will not get a job until he graduates nor will he get his driving permit. Being a single mother I know that it can be financially difficult to raise a child. However, I do not believe that parents should expect their children to work to help pay the bills and put school aside. It is our responsibility to provide for them and ensure they have an education.
To most people it is embarrassing to say they dropped out of high school or they know someone who dropped out, but my boyfriend dropped out of high school and expressed to me what made him do it. In the tenth grade of high school a group of 6 boys went into the bathroom and jumped him. The principle had a meeting with all the boys and my boyfriend and cam to the conclusion that the 6 boys had to serve in school suspension but my boyfriend was being expelled from school. He couldn’t enroll in any other Hillsborough school. For the simple fact that the principle played favoritism and made that decision my boyfriend couldn’t finish high school and he wasn’t able to go to a school in another county because of transportation so he had to drop out. Finally when he was 18 he went and got his GED. I think the school board should improve on Faculty to Student relationships. The faculty should treat the students with respect and should consider better reasoning with students. Just because the are superior to students doesn’t mean they should dictate a students future.
I think there are quite a few reasons are drop out rate is so high. One being drugs. Kids who get mixed up with the wrong crowds and do stupid things like drugs or committ other crimes tend to drop out of school. Teen pregnancy is another reason for young students dropping out. Usually, unless the young mother has an awesome support system, its extremely hard to go to school, work and take care of a baby. Some teens just dont care enough to stay in school. They would rather be out causing trouble or in their words, "having fun". Some young adults drop out to work full time to help support their familes. Although this may not be the smartest choice, sometimes its the only choice for poor families. If you think about it, how much income would you bring in to help out your family if u have a job that doesnt require a high school diploma?! not much. In todays society, very few jobs, if any will even consider hiring someone without a GED. So realistically, these kids who drop out arent doing themselves any favors. Young people should think about the consequences of their actions before-hand. Becoming teen mothers can be prevented if girls and guys are smart about it. The same goes for the stupid people who do drugs. No good will come from that, so why do it? These are just some of the reasons for today's high drop-out rates.
I do not think there is anything wrong with our school system due to high drop-out rates. If there is any problem, it would be the school’s location, for example, inner cities. I believe that the issue is with the students. It can be anywhere from home life or just pure laziness. There was a girl I had to tutor. Her main focus was her family and she never concentrated on school, because she never needed to; however, in the end, her diploma depended on it. Students need a drive to do well in school. I have observed those who do not have the drive, usually do poorly.
I dont think that the promblem with our graduation rate. Public highschools in florida are very easy classes. The promblem is motivation i think. Kids that have parents that dont care if they drop out are likely to drop out. I think that 16 is to young to be able to make the decision of droping out of shcool. I think that the law should be you have to be 18 to drop out. Then if they wont to drop out they should have to take a couple hour course on the effects and statistics on highschool drop outs and then be tested on the information and have to pass that test.
There are many flaws in the public school system that cause the high dropout rate. Classrooms being overcrowded may have a huge impact on dropout rates. Students need to be able to talk and have the teacher recognize them so they feel like someone actually cares about them and their education. A huge problem in my opinion, is the FCAT. This test is screwing up the education of every Florida high school, and other states have similar tests. For 3 years in high school the only thing you are getting taught is useless and boring information so you can pass the test. This makes nobody want to do school work and in the end causes dropouts; and if you don't pass the test you can't graduate until you do. It can cause many kids to spiral downwards into dropping out. There are still many more problems with the public school system, but those are probably the most significant.
People can come to many conclusions on why the high school dropout rate is rising so much. I think one main reason is the fact that in order to actually have a decent living now a days you need to have at least a bachelors degree in college. I think that a lot of students look at that as too much to ask and they shy away from even trying, they figure why should I continue high school if there is no reward for getting a diploma. Another interesting observation I made is that during my senior year a lot of students just had trouble getting up at 6:30 every morning for school 5 days a week. I think that juniors and seniors in high school should be allowed to start school a little bit later, due to other responsibilities, like working late for example.
The student dropout rate does not only have to do with problems in the school system but also in the student’s life. Students who dropout most likely have a hard life at home. Parents of dropouts may not guide their children in the education direction. Busy with work themselves, they push their children to help with the family. Also, parents of dropouts were probably dropouts themselves. Dropouts feel they have more important things to do than to get an education. They don’t realize how better off they would be with one. The school system should be more concerned and parents should make sure their children are getting an education.
Who is to say why one person graduates form high school and another frops out? There are many possible answers to this question. It could be teenage parenthood or lack of motivation. My sister dropped out of school in tenth grade to move back to Florida for her boyfriend of one year. At first, she went to school then she dropped out. She got a job in order to help them survive. She is now 19 and married. Her and her husband will celebrate their one year anniversary in October. Her husband was also a high school drop out and now they are struggling to keep their heads above water. He works a full-time job and she has two part-time jobs. They are barely getting by. Perhaps they would be better off if they had graduated from high school or at least got their GED. Unfortunately, their lack of motivation or desire has kept them from doing so. How does any one know why someone chooses to drop out of school? All anyone knows is of some situations that friends or families have told them of. I don't pretend to know or understand why people do some of the things they do. I just sit back and observe what is going on around me. My mother dropped out of high school and received her GED. I was the first woman in my family to graduated and to attend college. That is my motivation.
While there are many reasons and possible explanations for high dropout rates, I think stevie d makes a very good point- a huge lack of motivation on the part of many students and not much discipline from parents. It seems that young people these days are very interested in instant gratification. For instance, they think that working is a better use of their time because they see an instant result from it- earning money. School is not really like this and is something where the end justifies the means; you have to wait and work hard to see a result. They feel it is a waste of time to sit in a class everyday just to earn a piece of paper when they could be out making money or doing something else that they consider more valuable. I think that many people feel that in the end, it doesn't matter what you know it's who you know, and therefore education doesn't seem like such a high priority. At least in my experience, many students aren’t really interested in learning, class or simply listening to someone older and wiser. I went to an all-girls public high school in Baltimore City and many of the girls just didn’t care. They were often downright disrespectful and rude to the teachers and blatantly made it known in class that they didn’t want to be there and that they didn’t take education or school seriously. It was not unusual for only 2 or 3 students in the whole class to do homework or participate. Of course there were students who did want to learn and cared about school, but the majority of the girls were completely unmotivated. I couldn't tell you many times per day I heard a girl say something along the lines of, "I could be out earning money, but instead I'm here." This even affects the teachers- the more apathetic the students become, the more apathetic the teachers become. Due to overcrowding and a lack of funding and resources (particularly in public schools), the teachers are already frustrated as it is. Careless students who show complete disregard to them just add more negativity to an already crumbling and inhospitable learning environment. This kind of apathy on the part of the students can often be traced back the student's peers, but especially to the home environment and the level of discipline and involvement parents have with their children. Many parents are quick to blame the teacher when their children get bad grades, miss school or just don't care; however they ignore how large of a stake they have in their child’s education. A lot of parents don’t monitor the child’s attendance carefully or check to make sure they have done their homework, and most young people can’t handle that much leniency or freedom. I believe another issue with the school system and by extension the drop out rate is the ridiculous emphasis placed on standardized testing. I really think this is a fatal flaw of the American education system. Emphasis is placed on getting a good score to make the school and district look good; not actually learning anything. I would be highly unmotivated too if all I was doing in class was preparing for some silly test that means nothing. Of course pregnancy, single-parent homes and hood life or whatever all factor in, but in the end I think it all comes down to apathy and lack of motivation. Maybe I'm just cynical, but I see so much apathy in my generation as well as the younger generations; and not just when it comes to school.
I agree with the lack of motivation that could stem from the family or the peers. I also agree that standardized testing has a few negative aspects... maybe many.
Now, when it comes to the students being bored, I can't identify with the problem. Many things in life will turn out to be boring. Shall we just quit because they are not fun?
Kala
Thank you for the comments. Are you in Jordan?
The problem isn't with our school system, but rather it is directly related to teen pregnancy, and teen drug use. Teenagers are rather prone to taking drugs and having sex. While not all teenagers end up pregnant or overdosing, many are being sucked into an irresponsible world of sex drugs and music where living at mom's house and working fast food seems to be the only forseeable future. You can see that this is a personal issue for me, since most of my friends never got through highschool, and most of their lives are fully described above. The primary source that i can see for all of this behavior is the parents. Parents need to love their children and discipline them, throughout their lives, well into being eighteen, otherwise the child will lose sight of what the parent's values are, and not adopt them as their own values. For me to change, it took a few fights with my older brother, my father's condemning words, and my mother's care to change me into the person i am today.
I do not think it is always the schools fault that students are dropping out. It can be the families fault. If parents are not paying attention to their kids enough to make sure they are in school. And also the schools administration should do a better job at keeping attendance and whenever a student is absence the parents should be notified and there should be consequences at school and at home. If a student knows if they are absent or If they skip class they are going to get detention or in school suspension (ISS) they would think twice before doing it. Some students drop out of high school because they have after school jobs which I think is not very smart but the parents can have a role on that decision and make them quit their job and stay in school. For some students it is hard like if a girl gets pregnant and has a baby while she is still in high school I am sure that would be difficult. If one out of three students is dropping out of high school it does not necessarily mean that there is something wrong with the schools.
My personal thought is that there are two factors that I have observed in the schools that my own children attend. The first problem I see is the over crowding in the class rooms. It has become very difficult for the teachers to manage the students academically. It is a sink or swimm situation. The teachers do not have the time or the help to work with students who are falling behind. The responsibility falls back to the parents to keep their children up to speed. Unfortunately, the majority of our families have both parents working. Therefore, they do not have the time or the know how to help their children. I also believe that are schools are being filled with educators who are in it for the wrong reason. Alot of today's teachers do not have the passion that teachers of my generation did to teach. It seems that many of today's teachers are simply in it to have summers off. They just don't care if a student is falling behind. I don't mean to direct all the fault to the individual teachers themselves. I realize that budjet cuts have a great impact on our schools.
The American drop out rate has been going up for a while and there are a variety of logical explainations that back up this trend. One of those reasons is the fact that there are more and more teen pregnancies in this country every year. Also most of the families that have teen pregnancies are poor and they can not afford to pay for everything a baby needs while going to school.
Also, with the increasing of tuition everyother year or so and scholarships such as bright futures making it harder for students to continue their education and finish school they are more likely to have a shattered self esteem and give up when things get tough.
Over crowding of schools is also a very good reason as to why the drop out rates are increasing, with more and more people in each class with less and less teachers to educate people each child gets less attention and if they are not a great student they will begin to fail.
There are countless explainations as to why drop out rates are increasing however nothing will change this trend until schools recieve better funding and can afford to accomidate children the way children need to be accomidated while being educated. The last thing people should be doing is cutting the funding for educational purposes, yet that is what they do every year.
i think that most people drop out of school because of a general lack of motivation. i think that if you have no one there to ask how school is, or how your doing in your different classes or if you need help, and even more, noe one there to KEEP you in school when you drop out or thinking of dropping out, then it's very hard to keep yourself motivated all on your own. i think that getting pregnant or have a boyfriend or close friends that drop out of of school then you will be more pron to drop out yourself. i think that the best way to try and get kids to stay in school would motived them to be in clubs, sports and try to encourage them to try and be an honors graduate.
The school system in the United States is missing the appropriate
funding from our government to produce a solid program. If only they
could offer a fair salary to our teaching staffs throughout the country
more people would reconsider being professors thus increase the quality
of the tutoring they present. The insufficient funding the school
system is given translates onto the students. Little or no funding for
proper materials, staff pay, and programs to prepare our youth to
succeed in their endeavor should be a standard to this nation's youth.
I'm not surprised the amount of teens dropping out from school has
increased; lack of parental support seems to have dissipated along with
the American dream they once had during their childhood years. As
adults I think we should be doing a better job at guiding our youth into
stronger educational values. Little or no guidance leads to less action
from the students.
Basically, I am totally agree with several comments from others in this particular topic. I do interested with education system especially if I compare and contrast the education system in here with my homecountry. There would be a lot of reason why high school students drop out from school. Like what others said, poverty, lack of motivation, social life environment, and probably the politic's influence in education bring this problem getting worse.
Contrasting to Indonesia, I would say students over here get more advantages than students over there. For instance, female pregnant students would never be allowed to go back to school,so if students mess up because being pregnant, they would be loss the chance to get education for the future.
Another example would be about the students' uniform. From elementary until high school, we have to wear school uniform both in public or private school in order to remind us that we are in school and have to do what we have to do as student, which is study. It is not acceptable to wear different clothes that probably would cause the social distinction between the student. I think that is good because the students can be reminded that there is an equal opportunity between the rich and the poor to get education. And students are not supposed to think about fashion clothes or accessories that have to be worn at school. So just be lucky for you guys in here who have freedom for that.
It is sad that many students in here just drop out without realizing that there are many children in other parts of the world can not get chance to get knowledge to face the future.
For Heather:
U rock girl!!::-)
I see a lot of good points about the reason for High School Dropouts. I do feel strongly that the schools are one of the problems. They have focused so much on Religion and Politics they forgot the students needs. As for school not being fun and is boring, Schooling is a responsibility, as a Parent you must work, no matter how they feel about it. Schooling should be presented to children in that same idealism. That is life.
Second is the parents, I feel a lot of parents don't teach respect for yourself and others or explain enough how it is important to always do your best no matter what your doing. It is so easy to give up and drop out. It is much more of a challenge to complete something and succeed, even if you have children. Many Parents also don't make personal developments or self achievement a part of their family values.
Finally, I think the Politicians play with the numbers a little to get the percentage they want as they do for Poverty Statistics to get their votes.
A report from the State Board of Education was released on Feb. 8th of this year that stated at least 53% of all dropouts were due to students being absent. Only 1.1% of dropouts were to due to teen pregnancy.
The absent rate was also linked to increasing numbers of high school students being either short-term suspended or long-long suspended. The rate increased by 2.7 percent last year. I think that it is important to make these students aware of just how important school is, not only to their education but also to their economic survival.
High school drop outs are not only more likely to go on public assistance but they are also 82% of the nation’s prison and death row inmates. I realize that these statistics are just numbers to these children, so they don’t fully comprehend the struggles that they could endure by not having a high school diploma.
I also feel that it is not just the responsibility of the teachers, but mostly their parents to reiterate the importance of education. They should stay on them, make sure they are getting good grades, make sure they are going to school, and to get them help if they are unable to help themselves. There is tutoring and counseling available at every high school in the U.S.
Dlandon
I have also observed in my classes the correlation between absenteeism and dropping out or getting a D or an F.
Silverdaytona
There are so many seminars out there that try to turn professors into comedians so we can "captivate" students. Indeed many students will say that they have dropped out because school is boring, but that talkes away accountability from them.
School is not supposed to be Comedy Central.
And going through a pre-election period, I look forward to hearing any specific plans on cutting down the drop out rate.
There are many reasons as to why the high school dropout rate is so high. Some of the reasons may be that teenagers become mothers and fathers each and every year because we don’ teach too much about safe sex then we do about being celibate; but that’s a whole different debate. That and as was said earlier high school teenagers tend to pick on the other high school teenagers that are different. The teenage mothers and fathers is a big issue as why we have a big drop out rate. Teenagers like to pick on other teenagers because it makes them feel better about themselves because they are happy in the first place. Teenagers that get picked on tend not to go to school and drop out because they feel like they can’t do anything right and don’t want to be picked on everyday and that’s why they choose the solution to drop out.
Problems in our school system can come from different angles. In school, I believe that teachers need to be stricter with their students. By that, I don’t imply that teachers have to be mean, but students must be disciplined. When children are in school, aside from finding their identities in the society and developing social skills, the primary reason of them being there should be is to learn. It is great that kids are involved in sports and other activities. Teachers ought to use those as leverage. Students who wish to partake in extracurricular activities must maintain certain grade average. I am aware that this is done by some already, but suggest that teachers and the administration be sterner about it and ensure that the condition is properly implemented. Perhaps, it will push students to take education more seriously. Also, I think that the government as well as private institutions should give educators a well-deserved salary increase. For carrying the huge responsibility of shaping the minds of the future citizens, they are underpaid. In addition, develop a way to screen prospective teachers to certify that they are qualified. I remember back in high school and even now in college having instructors that doesn’t seem to belong to a teaching institution. School is not always going to be fun, but it makes a huge difference to have a dedicated, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic teacher who can entice and challenge students to learn even the subjects that are considered uninteresting or rather difficult.
Another part of the problem is the parents. Not just the educators, but parents as well have to be less lenient when it comes to their child’s education. At home, they should encourage their young ones to discover their potentials. Furthermore, parents need to take time and spend it with their kids doing homework. I realize that time has changed and a lot of moms and dads nowadays both work, but it is very crucial that they are around if their children require help and also to supervise and ensure that they are on the right track. Also, setting up rules at home would be helpful. Parents should oblige their kids to finish school work before allowing them to play video games, watch television, or get on-line on the computer other than to do homework.
After I posted my comment and then read it again, I felt that I needed to say something else. My first paragraph may have sounded as if I am blaming teachers by saying that they need to be stricter. I wanted to write again and add why. I think that a lot of students do not take school seriously and does not give respect to their teachers. I'm so sick of kids that talk back to their teachers and plainly disrespects them. Some kids don't seem to look up to their teachers. In college, I've heard a student tell my professor that he pays for the professor's salary and therefore can't make him do anything. My problem I guess is the attitude of some of the students today – the lack of interest in achieving education.
Also, I mentioned earlier that the government should raised salaries for educators. They should also come up with better plans on keeping our kids in school - don't cut-back on education funding and instead, increase it to better provide for the learners and educators. Lastly, leave politics out and go back to the basics of just learning.
There are a ton of reasons why teens drop out of high school. I think the biggest reason is because of teenage pregnancy. Many girls get pregnant in high school and then they get to feeling overwhelmed and drop out of school. I've known some girls who get all the way to their senior year of high school, with only maybe two or three months left, and end up dropping out. I think that is messed up to get that far and let all your struggles get you down and you end up leaving school. I also had some friends who got mixed up in drugs and ended up dropping out.
Petit monde
Well said!
When it comes to disrespect however, the problem is acute in primary and middle school. In defense of students, I have observed no disrespect, none whatsoever, in my teaching career. I know that I have presented controversial topics, that many have strongly disagreed, but nobody, expressed any disagreement or opposition in a disrespectful way. That is my experience of course. Others many have different experience.
In more defense of students I have to state that I have observed minimum disruption problems. You guys behave like angels -with the exception of those of you who keep text messaging throughout the session-.
I remember I had to attend a seminar whose topic was how to deal with discipline problems in class, and at one point I got up and said "sorry, I am in the wrong seminar, I have had zero problems, our students are very well behaved..."
Having said that, why we do we lose 50% of our students in many colleges? I have come to believe that it is a maturity problem. Many do not simply grasp the long term benefits of education as they compare it to the short term gains of burger-flipping.
The message has to be hammered and hammered and hammered.
I agree with Athena Smith.
It doesn't get hammered long enough. I for one, got it hammered it into me from a young age. When I was 6 I walked by this homeless man with my dad who was drinking water out of a can of beans.
I asked my dad why that man looked so awful and he said "that's what happens when you get bad grades in school." I almost started crying.
Ms.Athena,
I am very happy that you have not had any of your student disrespect you because its terrible. I took a Math class here in Brandon campus and my professor was foreign. Sure we had a hard time sometimes understanding what he was trying to say, but there were some who used to just get up and walk-out in the middle of the lecture and there were also some who were verbally disrespectful. The professor didn't deserve that kind of treatment, especially from those who were young enough to be his kids. The professor never said or did anything to those students and I don't know why, but just seeing it, makes me sad and upset.
fault of th drop out rates in schools may not be entirely on the school system itsself,a bigger contender is how the child is raised.Many of the students i have known that dropped out do not have very concerned parents to even dicipline them right, so these kids learnt o do what they want instead of doing what they should do, even though its not fun. Like wise with me and my family, i have been raised to know that school is my main priority and dropping out was never a choice. My mother and father always made sure that my homeowrk was done, and so throughout the years they gained trust in me to do the required work school gave to me.My main point is dicipline, most of these kids that have dropped out do not have very good dicipline and follow their own rules. what i think can be helped to decrease the number of drop outs is did=fficult to say, because the decision is up to the student but what schools can do is try to make school worth coming to, meaning interesting and somewhat fun.
I think a reason many people drop out of high school is boredom. I am sure teen pregnancy is a main factor as well, but the people I knew who dropped out did not do so because of pregnancy. I disagree with an earlier post that education standards are too high. I was in regular “boom-boom” classes in high school and it was a lot of movies and a lot of ditto sheets. My friends in the gifted classes did experiments and projects for English. If they would raise the standards and make classes more interesting I think more students would stay in high school. They should definitely raise the salary for teachers and give them a signing bonus if they have a masters degree. More teachers and smaller classes would help out a lot too. For girls who end up getting pregnant in high school, I think it should be mandatory that their guidance counselor give them all the information about government assistance for daycare,night classes, or anything to help them stay in school. I think that would be awful to feel stuck just because you have a child. There are probably 10 other reasons why people drop out but I really think if we had more teachers and higher standards the drop out rate would go down. If we cut some county commissioners that don’t do anything and gave their salary away as signing bonus we could have more teachers.
I believe there are many reasons why our high school dropout rate is increasing. The first and most obvious being teenage prenancy. In my opinion it would be very difficult to attend school and raise a child, especially a new born baby. In some of these cases maybe even as a single mother. Another issue I would think factors into this is lack of individual attention in classes, I know it was very hard for me to receive one on one attention with some of my teachers and if this is the case students may become frustrated with their low grade or even discouraged. Overcrowding would be the biggest reason for lack of attention for the students, too many teens in one classroom.
I think that every case might be different and many groups can have the same reason in common. For example, when I was in high school I saw many of my peers drop out because they were pregnant, no motivation, bad influences, drugs, laziness, or economic reasons. I was sick of ridding the bus, getting up early, and overwhelmed with my job, many times I felt desperate to drop out. But, as the saying goes "if I only knew then what I know now" I would have focused a lot more in school. School becomes so repetitious after a while when all we must do is show up and pass with a "C". I think even teachers come to feel like its a joke and don't put a lot of effort or interest in the courses. I herd my teachers say many times "I'm not here to entertain you". I didn't see it that way but instead of just sounding like robots they could be more human and try to motivate students. Maybe they felt like that because of the crappy pay they get for putting up with teenagers, and also because the school didn't have the money to be more creative. Another big reason that I feel people drop out is because America makes it so easy. In other countries if a child is even aloud to go to school it is only free up to 6th grade. If they want to continue they have to pay tuition and books just to graduate high school. There is no financial aid for further education. In America even if the person drops out they are taken care of by welfare programs, many countries don't have that kind of luxury.
It’s hard to say what the exact problem with the school system is. One major thing that I came across in high school was drug addiction. Many students at my high school did drugs and they would never go to school, this caused their grades to drop and in turn they would fail the grade and have to repeat it. Many did so one or two times and simply gave up. Another issue is that the majority of the parents of this generation do not force their children to attend school and to get a better education. Since they are allowed to do what they want, they don’t do what’s important. These are only two of the major issues that I have seen, but there are many more.
There are many reasons for the rising dropout rates in schools today. One being schools being overcrowded. With some schools being to full students are not getting the attention they need from teachers, also kids are picked on and bullied on a diaily basis makes it completely not worth even showing up just to be ignored and laughed at everyday. Another reason are underpaid teachers. Teachers being underpaid and not really caring whether or not their students learn or graduate for that fact rubs off on the students they dont feel they are benafitting from going to class so they decide to just dropout. Some other factors are pregnancy and drug use. With kids having sex at a younger age and not being responsible while doing so shows a rise in teenage pregnancy. Also students using one of the many drugs that are available all over the place. Abuse of theses drugs leads to them not caring about school.
I think the main problem is that many students mistakenly feel that school is not offering them anything useful. Then by the time they realize that dropping out was a huge mistake that could potentially ruin their lives; they've already been out of school for awhile, and are insecure about going back. We should just face the facts that some high school students won't go to college, and many of those that do won't finish. So to avoid having all these young people scrambling to find Mc jobs; I feel that high schools should offer students who want the chance to do so the opportunity to learn a trade. Regardless of this, there will be a small amount of students who drop out of high school. However, by offering trade programs where students can train to go into fields such as carpentry, electrical, or plumbing, the schools would keep many at risk students from dropping out. As I said before, some students will not go to college, and many of them know it. So by offering them a chance to learn a trade; which will increase their earning capabilities after high school, many potential dropouts will stay interested in school.
When kids have nobody to encourage them, and they don’t have the confidence that they can make it, it is easier to drop out than to struggle to complete school. Not to mention the kids that don’t do well could have some other things going on, whether it be something out of their control such as loss of a parent or parents getting divorced, or something within their control like a drug addiction. Another factor is teen pregnancy. Pregnant teens often drop out when they do not have a support network to help them take care of the baby or support it financially. I came from a comparatively small school (my graduating class was about 200), so I personally don’t know the struggles of having too many students in a classroom and the one teacher not having enough attention to go around, but that has got to be a problem in the larger schools When a child has nobody to help them at home, and the teacher has too many students to help them, it would be easy for a student to fall behind and get lost. It’s important for a teenager to have a responsible mentor.
I believe there are hundreds of individual circumstances that would cause a student to drop out of school. The two main reasons, however, would be lack of motivation and teen pregnancy. Parents and teachers are supossed to be the drive behind a student. They are supossed to push and guide a student to be as academically well off as possible. These days though parents and teachers are hardly involved. Six out of seven of my highschool courses lacked so much academic appeal it was absolutely unbearable to come to class. Also, I believe that teen pregnancy is huge. I had at least one pregnant girl in every single one of my classes my senior year. Thats one in twenty-eight students that is pregnant. There is no way you can be a mother to a baby and still attend school. Overall I believe that the lack of support from important figures aids to the high drop out rate.
I don't think that there are any major problems with school systems that are specific to the reasons kids are dropping out of schools. I feel like the reasons teenagers are dropping out of schools are because of society and alot of what the "outside" world is doing. Many songs portray other lifestyles for teenagers on how to much quick easy money or that an education isn't necessary to do what they want, for example housewives, singers, rappers, etc.
I feel like it also has to do with the way you were raised. School for me was never really an option, it was never a choice. I got up in the morning and I was going to school regardless of what was going on. My parents have always been dead set on education and believe it is the key to success which is now how I am but many parents don't instill that in their children, I know many people who in high school didn't show up because they didn't want to or didn't care to and their parents did not force them. I feel like you are doing your child a disadvantage if you do not allow them to at the very least attend school while its free to get the basic education they will need for the future.
I feel like many parents and our country's leaders feel like its the school systems that have failed but in reality I think its the parents fault primarily for allowing their children to have a choice and then to allow their children to music and view television programs that promote dropping out as an "ok" thing to do.
Well for starters I think that huge part of the drop out rate problem lies within the family. Without the parental involvement and motivation from them to succeed students often feel there is no point in continuing to suffer through the ‘pains’ of high school. There are also those students that are required to work from an early age to help their family and may feel that doing so is more important than their education. And the schools of course share the blame as well. I can remember teachers that I’ve had that didn’t even like to teach and they would not take the time to help and were quick to dismiss my questions. One of my math teachers once told me "Well if you don’t understand I can’t help you" after just doing one problem with me. And like the article said it is hard to truly say that statistics are correct... if you put the stats of a school in a poor district that already has a high dropout rate plus others including those that don’t of course the numbers look very serious. Although to me personally the dropout rate seems to be getting higher but at the same time I see more and more people going back to get their diploma even if it is a GED.
Dropping out of school has never been an option for me, especially High School. I don’t think overcrowding, pregnant teens, or drugs are the main reason for High School dropouts. I believe it has to do with the parents who let their kids drop out. It parents did not give their children the option of dropping out the dropout rate would drop dramatically. In order to drop out your parent or legal guardian must be the one who signs the paperwork to allow their kids to stop going to high school, therefore drugs, bullies, pregnancies, and so on are not the reason that students drop out.
I think that overcrowding in high schools have a lot to do with the high dropout rates. When a student does not understand the material, there are not enough qualified teachers to spend a little extra time with the student to help them understand it. Therefore, they end up not doing the homework and failing the tests on it because they never got it in the first place. Why would they want to stay in school if their not doing well academically? The school system definitely does not have the funding they need. One of the main reasons there aren’t enough teachers is because they don’t get paid what they should. So not only do they get treated like crap from the students, but they’re not even making enough money to make it worth their while.
I feel that the school system needs serious improvement if it's one of the reasons causing high school students to drop out. Yes, there are certain materials that are required of teachers to teach in school, but sometimes the teaching methods can be extremely boring. Students need to stay motivated and no one could possibly be motivated to learn if the teacher isn't even enthusiastic about teaching the subject. Also, I think many students who have issues at home somewhat have troubled behavior and it reflects off of them at school. Trust counselors, teachers, and administration should be aware of the student's behavior and either help them, contact parents, or do both. If a student that has problems has someone to talk to about it, sometimes that can clear their minds and they can be more focused on school. For instance, if a student is absent various times, parents need to be contacted! Some people believe it's the students that decide to leave school and the school has nothing to do with it, but I think if one in every three students is dropping out of high school; the school itself takes a major role in the causes.
I am really surprised that US has such a high dropout rate. I think several reasons may cause the problem. I agree that American kids are spoiled. Kids do not get any pressure in schools. Both teachers and parents encourage them to get fun in their daily life. As the result, kids spend a lot of time to play and gradually lose their interests of study. Kids are not inspired for studying too. In China, even in kindergarten, teaches try to let kids know that studying is very important. Many high school students know finish high lever education can bring them and their country bright future. Also, in America, the standard of elementary, middle and high school is low. Kids may not get challenge in school, and they feel staying in school is very boring.
The reason that so many teens drop out of school before graduation is because graduation has become a choice instead of a standard. Over the last two decades a parent’s ability to discipline a child has gone from spanking and time-out to straight alienation. A parent has no right to be able to punish a child with anything other than words or absence today or they would be seen as abusive. The lack of discipline goes along with the lack of education. Most children by nature do not like to learn because they value television, games, and friends more than education. Without a strong influence (or force) to “help” these children to learn and better their knowledge, society ends up with this “everybody is a winner” attitude; unfortunately, not everybody is a winner. It is a Darwin-istic society and fear needs to be put back into children to succeed in their studies or else the future of America will be very weak.
There could be several answers to this question but the one answer that comes to my mind is parenting. I feel the way you are raised reflects the way you act obviously. If the parents of the kids who dropped out would stay on top of them and inforce respect. Although it could be because the kids have to drop out to help support a broken home. I'm sure the drop-out rate is much higher in one parent families. Due to the lack of support of a mother or father.
There are plenty of reasons why a student drops out of school only that student knows why. I know a few kids who dropped out of high school because they needed to financially help out but they went on to get their GED and they are college graduates. I feel that the drop out rate has a lot to do with the school system. Cutting back on certain curriculum and letting great teachers go makes school uninteresting. Kids like to be challenged. If you make school boring enough students are going to be dropping left and right. Getting a GED is much more attainable than people think.
I think the biggest reason for rising high schol drop out rates is teen pregnancy. Teens are having sex younger and younger as the years go on. Also being pregnant your probably not going to be very motivated to stay in school, you'd probably worry about how your going to take care of a baby. Another reason could be drugs and alcohol. I watched as a friend ruined her future in high school just because she wanted to be socially accepted by the wrong crowd of people. Or the kids that think seeling drugs is the easiest way out of poverty. Increasing drop out rates could also be the result of overcrowded schools. A class with forty student probably won't give the teacher a chance to give every child the attetion they need to be successful. Or it could be the school's budget, like in urban area where poverty has taken over almost every family. I could see why it's hard to stay updated and have new material of students.
I think the high school drop out rate is high due to alot of things. Some kids really don't care about school. Some kids run into bad times were they have work alot of hours. For instance if a young lady has a bady while atteding high school, she may feel that she can't go to school and raise a kid. This may also effect the father if he was in school when this happen. Most teens don't realize that without a education they may struggle. You aslo have teacher that dont't care about the students. This sometimes depends on what kid of parents are at home.
It's not necessarily the school system that's the problem. It really depends on the individual students situation. The kids I knew who dropped out each had their own reasons, but most of them made their decision based on their family situation. The kids needed money, and to get money as soon as possible so that they could get out of their parent's house as soon as they hit an age where they could, due to the way they were treated. I also knew a kid who had to help support his family and couldn't get enough money in the day while still attending high school. Then of course there were the kids who got into drugs, the kids who didn't see the point of school, who didn't really see a career in their future and were content with just getting their GEDs and working a phone job making 10 an hour. The actual high school experience has a lot to do with it though. Out of all the teachers I had in high school, only two of them were really good teachers, and neither of those teachers lead a course in a core academic. Most of the teachers in high school just didn't seem to care about the students or their job. No one ever pulled me aside when my grades started dropping. It's not like tv, you know? And more than a couple of the teachers were more like babysitters than anything, not really teaching but just giving us an easy A, giving us answers for questions rather than going into the topic. I just think the teachers need to be evaluated better. It seems like anyone could get a job in a high school as long as they have the right papers.
I agree that survey and study statistics may be skewed with regard to high school drop out rates. However, I believe the issue is not new and does not receive a great deal of attention and focus from parents, schools, school boards, states and federal agencies involved in the responsibility of education within our country. Everyone involved needs to do less talking about the issue and provide more hands on solutions. If children do not
feel comfortable with the basic studies of math, reading and writing, they need to be reached by finding a subject or interest about which the student can feel excited or enthusiastic. I think students can and should be encouraged to consider technical schools and training which might accommodate their particular talents, and in providing these kind of options, a sufficient amount of prowess in reading, writing and math when viewed in its practical and applicable sense might make more sense and be more appealing. Frankly, I do not think any student should be allowed to be “left behind” or just tallied up as another
"regrettable statistic.
there are so many reasons to why students may drop ot of high school, some resons are because of class size or overcrowed schools, some student just drop out because that's the path their parent choose to take. some parents don't care about what their kids to which leads them to do anything.growing up my parents were very stricked if we were very sick we still had to go to school. On the surface, students seem to drop out because of poor grades or the need to work. In reality, students often leave because they haven’t connected at home, school or in the community to someone who can set higher standards and help them to achieve them.
I won’t blame the schools programs or system for dropping out from high school. It would be easy to blame the students for their lack of progress, and many mistakenly do, except for the fact that over 85 per cent of Canadians are either average or above average in intelligence, so the students are smart enough to understand - they just can't read well enough to understand what they read. However, with early detection and successful remediation, teaching of basic reading skills is possible and can lead to effective change.
I feel like the education system is not the only component coming in to play when talking about the number of students who graduate from high school and get their diploma. Every student has the choice to decide whether or not they are going to succeed. A student can come in and put their whole heart into their education or come in to class and sleep. I have a friend who is a high school Math teacher and some of the stories I hear are awful. She has students who come in to her class and just expect to sleep the whole time. They do not do any of their homework, much less pay attention in class. Some seniors sign themselves in late to school and very rarely even show up for class. Of course, there are other factors as well such as background differences. This same teacher had a student who was absent from school for over two weeks. It was a young girl who was Hispanic and I believe she was in about ninth or tenth grade. When the teacher approached her and asked her why she had been missing from school for so long, the girl simply said that she had to stay home and take care of her family because her mother was out of town. In her culture, the eldest daughter had to take over the household if the mother was absent. This girl had to care for her younger siblings and make dinner for her father every night. I think there are many factors that play in to the graduation rate, not just the education system itself.
I truly believe High School drop out rate is at an ultimate high. Why? We can start with the over populated class rooms. A teacher can not effectively teach a group of 30-35 kids. Teaching kids in H.S. is not like teaching kids in elementary school; They deal with very aggressive and violent behaviors, this age group is dealing with emotional roller coasters from peer pressure and puberty, and with parents lack of involvement. Depending on location of the H.S., very little funds are being funded to run mentoring programs and hiring experienced staff. For example, in Florida being a retirement state, schools are not the states priority. School system needs programs such as day care for teen moms, classes that teach real life economics ( showing kids that 6.50 an hr can’t take care of a family), and a class taught by a successful teen mom or dad about their struggles and how to overcome them.
The government is not changing with time. Kids now in days face totally different issues that our grandparents and parents didn’t have to face. A lot of these kids are being raised in single parents home, they don’t have family or friends that went to college, they also face the issues of poverty, and most importantly a lot of them don’t have a support system.
I remember a day in high school where I was sat down in the guidance office discussing my low grades and the woman behind the desk asked me what I wanted to do with my life. I told her I wanted to be a musician. Without even acknowledging what I had just said, she told me I should be a nurse or some crap like that.
Throwing my dreams out the window just like that.
The next year I probably skipped school about 30 times and it wasn't until the last 2 months of school when I finally got caught for it.
High school seemed pointless. More than half of my teachers were idiots who didn't care whether you passed or not. I knew quite a few kids that dropped out and their doing the same thing I did and I didn't drop out. Sometimes I think about it and just want to kick myself because it was so easy to just drop out and get your GED. Why should I have to wake up at 6am 5 days a week to be shoved in this zoo of wild animals not learning anything that I didn't know already? I once had a class that didn't even have a curriculum. A whole semester doing nothing except a current event every friday.
Pointless.
High school's just a 7 hour recess, so if you don't have anyone to hang out with there why go at all?
As most have already mentioned, there are many reasons kids drop out of high school. I feel one of the main reasons to be a lack of motivation. Too many distractions toward the need for "freedom" and the ability to bring in an income become more attractive options. For others maybe they wern't prepared for the transition from middle school to high school. If they didn't get a grasp of the basic knowledge needed it may be hard for them to keep up and eventually give up. Some low income families may feel the need to have the kids drop out to help support the family. Whatever the reason, there seems to be no doubt that some of these kids are feeling pressures of the world around them and may become cofused to which path to take. I think it is necessary the parents and the school system provide the correct guidance and support to enforce the importance of school in regards to a better future.
I believe there are two main reasons that the drop out rate is so high. First is that many of the kids who drop out have no motivation to succeed. I never thought about dropping out but being motivated by my parents and my own self to succeed helped a lot when the pressure of school was the most. At times it was tough to just do my homework and study but because of my parents and my own self, I did what I needed to finish high school. When somebody doesn't have a force behind them pushing them even when it gets tough, dropping out is what usually happens. I think if all kids had such motivations like I did, high school drop out rates would be far less.
Second if the teachers actually got paid a decent wage, the whole education system would be fixed, including a lower drop out rate. This is one of the biggest mysteries I have ever seen. How can you expect teachers to be the best they can be on crappy salaries? I just don't get it. Why is it everywhere else in our society that when we want the best, we pay someone the big bucks to make it happen, but when it comes it teaching its ok to pay some like with hardly anything. Its kinda like asking NASA to send a man to the moon but only paying everything on the project minimum wage. We all know we won't be going to the moon in this situation. So its easy to understand, to fix the educational system, including lowering the drop out rate, we must increase teacher's wages. These two things, when applied, allows just about anyone to graduate high school and move onto bigger and better things.
I think the current school system is flawed and can make improvements to help these kids instead of having them drop out. I feel teen pregnancy plays in big role in the drop out rate but I also feel it has to do with these kids’ parents. I think that some parents don’t care about there children’s education so they give them the option to drop out and it just so happens they do. Children that don’t have caring parents seem to be the first to drop out. I feel if the parents would encourage and reward then maybe more students would stay in school.
I really don’t think that is a problem with the school system today. If there was one thing that I could think if it would probably be that the school system doesn’t show enough positive rein enforcement to their pupils. If a student does something that’s good reward them for the good things that they have done. But as for students dropping out of school I think that there are numerous reasons. I think that the biggest thing is the rising rates of high school teen pregnancy. Many students that become pregnant don’t want to be in school while they are pregnant leading them to drop out. Also another reason is because many students’ parents don’t pay for their cars and bills so they need to find work for money. This leading to more hours required at work. If a promotion presents itself, and the student takes it for a chance at more money to pay for their expenses. I think we need to explain to our high school students that staying in school is the most important choice that you can make.
There are many reasons kids drop out of school. A lot of those reasons may not have anything to do with the school system itself. Society is a lot different now than it was just ten years ago. Kids face many different challenges now that were unheard of before. Kids are being treated like adults and are expected to have adult responsibilities. More and more parents are divorcing and more and more mothers are working longer hours away from home. As the economy recesses more kids are having to give up school to get jobs to help support their families. I do not think it is solely the school system that is causing kids to drop out of school. I also think the media plays a part in students dropping out of school. It seems today the coolest thing to be is an actor, musician, or a socialite; none of which require any type of education. It is important for adults to instill in young kids the importance of education.
I think part of the problem with the school system that one of three students will drop out would be the parents. In ninth grade to drop out you have to get a parent signature. At least where I went to high school you had to have one. I know some places you just go and see the principal and they sign you off as drop out and immediately offer if you want to start the GED program. If the parents dont care and the teachers dont care, why should the student? My parents put so much pressure on me to graduate so I could go to college that it bothered me and I thought about dropping out. But I knew I needed an education and I didnt want to disappoint myself and others that way. Plus, the reason why my parents were putting pressure on me is because my cousin was pregnant and didnt finish, and most of the other girl cousins on my moms side of the family had a job but didnt finish high school. They didnt want that for me.
Another reason what is wrong with the school system is the teachers dont really care for the students. Some want to look cool and some think they are wasting their time, so they just teach the info and move on, not caring who understood and who didnt. Thus, not motivating the students full potential.
And lastly, the student themselves. A school is not really a school unless there are students to learn and teachers to teach. Since some teachers are teaching but ignoring the student, the student doesnt want to learn. But also, the teachers who are listening to the student, the student isnt listening to the teacher. Some students are just lazy and dont want to listen to a good teacher. If that student expects nothing from themself then that is what they will get. Even if they have parents that care and the teachers are doing all they can to help, and the student expects it to be easy and no hard work, then they will not learn and just think they are better off with out the education.
I bet that if the student was pushed by the teachers and the parents a little more, the statistics would drop greatly. Even with the students who are just lazy.
High drop out rates are due to a combination of contributing factors. First of all, money is a significant factor when it comes to education. The amount of money available influences the quality of education. Obviously money can buy books and computers and be used for better teaching materials as well as learning materials. Resources that money can buy like a car for reliable transportation are so valuable because with out a car how will you get to school? Or what if you don’t even have any money for the bus?. Additionally, health care is crucial to ensure a child is healthy and able to function and efficiently learn. Another aspect is that if you don’t have money it makes going to school very difficult for several other reasons. For example most kids want certain name brand clothes or new clothes. For most teenagers school is literally a fashion show and if you don’t have “nice” clothes you will probably be made fun of. Kids are made fun of for other superficial reasons that are not related to education at all but still contribute to kids dropping out. Why would you want to go to a place everyday where you are tormented for your appearance or some other brainless reason?
I believe one of the main cause for the student drop out rate is the peers that teens involve themselves with. I have a cousin that should be graduating in May and she has encountered many problems dealing with other peers her age who have had a very negative influence on her. My uncle has done everything and anything to try to straighten her out and she is finally getting back on her feet, but in the process has lost her chances of receiving a scholarship. She came very close to dropping out and not finishing her last year of high school. So in today’s society I believe that the peers of many of these teenagers have a lot to do with their success rate. If you involve yourself with people who are not succeeding than you yourself have a greater chance of dropping out.
I believe the drop out rate in US high schools is do to many things. Some are as simple as the student gets pregnant and just never comes back to finish and some is the public school systems. There is such a high need for teachers that classes are beginning to get over crowded and students are starting to get less and less attention when it comes to their education. Schools tend to put the “problem” or “slow” kids in separate classes, which only hurts them in my opinion. They learn early on that they are labeled as “slackers” and they play the role. They do not see a reason to stay in school; it is a waste of their time when they will never be anything other than a slacker. I think it is absolutely ridiculous that there are special classes for different people. Kids that drop out think they are never going amount to anything so they mine as well drop out and start making some money. Also, the student’s home life has a lot to do with the drop out rates. If the students parents do not care if their child is in school or not then the student won’t either. The parents also influence the “slacker” affect as the school does. If they tell their child you will never amount to anything and you are stupid on a daily basis the child will more than likely think it and drop out. Now I am not saying the school and parents are all to blame, the student is too, but from my personal observations this seems to be true in a lot of cases.
I believe that the highschool drop out rate comes from teen pregnancy, and they might have a tough personal life that interfers with schooling. For instance if your mom or dad gets really ill or hurt on the job and there is no one else to take care of everything you will drop out so you have a roof over your and your family head. Another way is if you get abuse at your house a teen will normally rebel and start messing up in school so you feel like you are not going to ever amount to anyhting so you decide to just drop out. Those are a few reasons why I think teens drop out of school.
There are many reasons why the US highschool dropout rate has increased severaly. First of all many students have on there mind that school is useless, especially why do they have to go to classes that they know they will not need in the first place. Also there are many times that peopole will try to get them to join a gang, and once they do that they feel more comfortable out of school with there homies, than in school and feel threathened. I also they that people feel very pressuered and overwhelmed to graduate on time and people will make fun of them if they are held back for a year, so they just dropout and get a job.
My class in highschool started out with somewhere around 1200 students and as the 4 years drug by though highschool, my graduating class ended up being somewhere around 407 students if I remember correctly. I'm sure there are a number of reasons for this happening. I believe that more of the reasons for this is because of a student's personal and family life rather than lack of effort or professionalism by the school itself. From my personal observations, it seems as though students would drop out mostly because of drug abuse leading to addiction and laziness. Also, I have seen instances where negative family life would cause a student to drop out. Sometimes premarital sex leading to pregnancies would cause students to drop out to begin supporting their new family. Like I said, I believe highschool drop out rates are more of a result of personal life and choices than the school itself.
I believe there are several reasons why so many students are dropping out of high school which causes the rates of drop-out rates to grow. I believe the society that a student lives in has a great affect. If a student is not accepted into a certain "clique" at school, most likely they will be that way for a while. Today, students have to be given a title by their clothes styles, personality, hairstyles, and many more. Also, there are so many families who are becoming poor due to the poor economy which is caused by the war. Many students today are judging other students by their class, which includes, money, the car they drive, the house and the neighborhood they live in. To sum it up, I think peer-pressure and the pressure from their surrounding is affecting the drop-out rate.
The problem with our school system is that it's not the school system. I believe that it is the lack of motivation from the students. The problem is that our people of today are a part of the "now" generation in which mostly everbody feels that if they want something, they have to have it right now. Therefore most students feel that if they are struggling in class, they should drop out because it's too hard because they don't want to take the time and effort to complete it successfully. The same can be said for jobs. Most teens want the money as fast as possible, they don't want to go to school then only be able to work part time. They want to work full time in order to make some money. If more teens were focused on the bigger picture, graduating, they would know that they could have a much better paying career and hence have accomplished something.
I am truly not qualified to judge why students are now dropping out of High School at an alarming rate, simply because I have been out of high school for over 10 years. However, from what I have seen and read, it is my opinion that the majority of the faculty is lacking, and that is why we keep hearing about such a need in more teachers. Their qualifications are not as good since their pay is also not adequate an therefore there is no incentive to become a teacher. It seems to me that the students don’t seem to have any sort of inspiration or role models in the schools that make them want to continue their education. Not to mention that in comparison to the time I was in high school, it seemed to me that all the students had respect for their teachers and education, and nowadays, students do as they please and teachers can’t do a thing to stop them or they will go to jail. Students have been given so much liberty, that there is a lack of respect for education, and they just opt to dropping out.
I'm pretty sure there are many reasons for a high drop out rate now in days. I have been told my many teenager that the schools are so full that teacher have about 40 and 45 student per class. That's a lot of student for one teacher and only for a 1hour class. Back when I was in high school we had about 25 to 30 student in one class and we thought that was alot of kids in one class, I can't even imagine being in class with 40 to 45 kids. It took a lot from me to asked questions in front of 30 kids, I would of never been able to asked questions in front of 40. May student now going into high school find it too easy to just drop out get a GED and start working in any career of there choice and also go to college. Society made it very easy for teenager to drop out and get a GED, so may studen rather take that route than to stay in school in a class of 40 and not learning anything because they really dont understand and they are too afraid to ask questions to help them understand the lesson. My personal opinion we need to make more high schools so we can make the classes smaller to provide better education to our teenager.
My possible reason is that maybe due to poverty that the students might not have the money for college so they probably think that what's the point in graduating if they can't go to college cause they don't have the money. Also it could be that the parents are getting a little more stricter when grades are concerened or maybe not strict enough because my dad is a harsh critic when it came to my grades that at one point I wanted to give up since it was so stressful having him look down upon me all the time but in the end I pulled through and graduating. It might not seem the same to others though. Maybe students are becoming lazier because of all the new shows on t.v. and what's on the internet that they lost interest in school. Plus the school board hasn't tried to do anything about the situation and just because they become the age where they can drop out doesn't mean that the schools or the students parents could try to stop them or better yet convince them to why they shouldn't drop out.
There are numerous reasons why kids drop out of high school. Lack of parent involvement is a major part of the causes of kids dropping out. Some parents have a very lazy attitude towards being involved in their child’s education. Many believe it’s the school systems job to make sure that their child learns everything that they need to know. I believe if parents took more interest in their child’s school work and encouraged them and even perhaps forced them to study more and do well in school then I think kids would take their education more seriously and choose not to drop out.
There are many reasons why the student dropout rate is high in our country. For example, teen pregnancy is a major reason why some students dropout. Studies show that the number of teens getting pregnant is outrageous. Another reason for students that quit school may be that they come from a poor family and need to work in order to help support their family. I have witnessed some of my friends who have been taken out of school for that reason. Also, some parents do not feel that education is an important factor. For example, a friend of mine parents believe that way. They believe that going to school for something is just a waste of time and money. They think that it is better to work while the work is available and make money. There may be a number of reasons to why the dropout rate is high in our country and nothing will ever stop it, but only hopefully decrease it as time goes on.
No matter what the statistics for high school drop out rate must be one hundred percent accurate. For this number represents the essential successes or failure of school. So no matter what the statistics that are recovered should be accurate and should be a primary concern to the government. The reason they are important is because once we figure who and why people are dropping out a solution may be improvised, but instead worrying about accuracy is taking away from the real problem at hand which is the education of our future citizens. Drop out rate are high mainly due to lack of motivation and inspiration. I think no one is forcing kids any more. It is no a option to continue school when the truth is with out education survival in the real world is nearly impossible. More stress must be put on the acceptance and denial of high school graduates. School seem to just let students go once they reach a certain age, that to me is impractical. A school is to be the provider and in no way should give up on the pursuit of knowledge for every single student no matter race, or social economic standings.
I believe that high school students drop out of school because of a big lack of interest. While attending high school I was always bored, but not to the point of dropping out. But as I looked at my peer I see that it affected them dramatically. Not finding a source or a will of staying in school can drive a teenage mind crazy. To them it is like being trapped in a continuous maze where everyday becomes routine and they tend to go out and break that trend. A teenage mind need to always be active and when that stop they go find something to keep them occupied but in a motivating way.
I think the public school system in Florida is a joke. When I was in high school I never had adequate means to learn the subject being taught. Almost all of my classes had outdated text books and the material being taught was sometimes obsolete. With this in mind a kid may come to realize they’d be better off working and starting a career than learning algebra. I myself see the reality that without a high school diploma there is little hope of finding a good paying job that does not require hard labor. It seems that no without a college education it’s much harder to find a decent job.
I also think that some of the kids that drop out almost feel the need. I have quite a few friends who have dropped out to help their families. Some of them are the main sources of income for their entire family and aren’t even 25 years old yet. I think this case may be more rare than others but I have observed it first hand.
The dropout rate is too high. I personally know a few people who dropped out. Not going to college is one thing, but dropping out of high school is another. I think the problem isn't only with the school system though. I do believe that the school system has become more relaxed over the years, but the main problems are the student themselves and their parents. The school can only do so much to help a student pass, it is up to the student to do their best, and graduate. The parents, as I also mentioned, are also a big problem. My mom works at a school and she tells me stories about parents who always being their kids late to school. Now, she works at an elementary school, but that shows that the problem starts early. If the child is brought late to school, they loose their work ethic. They think it is ok to slack off, or do things late. The parent needs to be a little strict with their child at least through middle school, when the child is really old enough to know what they need to do, and want to accomplish.
Well to me there are several things that lead people to drop out of high school. Well for one, people dropped out of my high school was because they would go to school and they just didn’t really care, they would rather be working and making money than to continue their education. I know where I’m from it’s a small town and agriculture work is very common so a lot of the guys I knew would help their parent’s with the crops shipping then to packing houses or to the market or what not. Another would be with the teenage girls getting pregnant that would lead them to drop out also. Being that they became mothers it just made it so much harder to attend school. Then you have the other people that just cause trouble in school and are involved in always fighting and drugs. They would be getting suspended from school most of the time it wasn’t even worth going to school. Those are some of the things I saw from my school that I thought lead high school students to drop out of school.
I can not begin to think that I know the reasons for the drop out rate being so high these days, but I can say something about why I had to drop out of high school. I am the oldest of seven children and am now 27 years old. My father passed away at the age of 32 leaving virtually nothing for the family. My mother took up 3 jobs working all day long because she couldn't get any assistance from the state. At 14 I dropped out to get a job and help with the family. Then my sister, two years younger than me, dropped out as well to help the family. Against my mothers wish at the time, but what else was there to do. We barely had food on the table at night. Should the state have stepped in, or should my sister and I had been another "statistic"?
There are several reasons why teens are dropping out of high school excessively now. There is a lack of emphasis of how important schooling is, also there is a unpresidented amount of teens that have outside problems that lead to dropping out of high school. There is not enough emphasis on how school is important. Teens do not realize that education lead to a bigger and brighter future. Also, it is a proven fact that educated members of society tend to be more successful. However, though the teens that dropout because of family issues and personal issues is understandable. They may not want to dropout but are forced to to the fact that they have to focus on more personal objectives. Finally, depending on the reasons why teens are dropping out, some just cant be helped.
I honestly do not think that it is the school system that has the problem. Kids these days have no motivation and are very very lazy. Parents do not try to motivate their kids, most of them are single and too busy to help their kids. A lot of kids out there are trying to do school all on their own and trying to work. When school gets just a little to hard for them, they drop out and they think that where they work will be good enough for them. Another reason why girls drop out is because they get pregnant. I know girls that got pregnant and stayed in school all the way up until they went into labor, but not everybody has that kind of motivation. Parents need to help their kids understand that they need to stay in school because these days it is very hard to get a good job without a degree.
I personally dont think the schools are to blame for thr drop out rates in high school being so high. So many kids now have no discipline in their households and can do whatever they want. There were a handful of kids in my highschool who did not graduate because they were a)pregnant or b)hand no parents to keep them on track or watch what they do so they ended up either getting caught up with drugs and dropping out or were just to lazy to get up and go to school. Schools are not the ones to be blamed, parents have to keep track of their kids and what they are doing.
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