Critical Writing # 10: Dropout Nation
The documentary “Dropout Nation” shows how difficult it is for students who live in poorer communities to receive a good education and graduate high school. Students and teachers are interviewed in this documentary to show that these students are intelligent but are not able to graduate due to their circumstances. These examples help explain the concepts learned in chapter 10 about social institutions and how it is affected by politics, education, and religion.
For some students it is difficult to get a good education. These students live in a poor community and are required to go to schools that have a low graduation rate. These schools have a certain reputation such that other students refer to it as the “ghetto school”, “where the pregnant girls go”, and the “dropout factory”. This
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Tracking is where students are identified as gifted or placed in remedial classes. By doing this, students learn about their overall success and achievements in comparison to the other groups. In the documentary, the principal, Rob Gasparello, addresses why their school is not the greatest. He states that their school has a “terrible reputation” and that the numbers do not lie. Looking at the data would assume that the overall success rate is not as high as other schools. By knowing this, it can be detrimental to the students’ education. This can be detrimental because students who attend this high school may start believing that they will never be successful so why bother trying. Other students who do not attend this high school may not have respect for these schools and assume they are better because they believe that they go to a better school. This is an example of inequality in education and studies have shown that while education benefits everyone, it does not benefit everyone equally. An inequality in education mirrors and inequality in
Do you ever feel like you want to just give up? In the video Dropout Nation there are a few students who don’t care anymore about how their lives go.That’s a problem,you see we all have something to look forward to in life. If we didn’t then most likely none of us would be here.Let’s go further into our topic we have here with us.
Something I have always known since I was a little kid is that the educational system in this country is a complete fraud. American schools claim to live by the ideal of No Child Left Behind, but millions of students get cast aside each and every year. In schools these days, it is obvious which students are the elite—those that are raised up and motivated to go to college—and the ordinary student— those that are somewhat ignored throughout their schooling and are lucky if they even earn a GED. As a recent graduate of high school, and a product of this country’s educational system, I have had the opportunity to develop my own opinions regarding the myth of education in our society. Based upon my observations going through the school system, and the various arguments posed by several authors in “Rereading America”, I strongly believe that schooling in this society caters solely to students in the elite category while ostracizing students that do not live up to the elitist ideal.
Prudence L. Carter argues that too many schools are in poor condition when it comes to programs, resulting in a lower success rate. Carter states “we cannot expect all students to achieve when far too many are climbing stairwells with broken handrails and missing steps, tripping and falling as they work to keep up, while others are zooming up on elevators,” in reference to the opportunities children are given at school. Families living in low-income communities do not have the same access to school programs that children in high-income communities do. “Those struggling with poverty and family instability cannot be expected to succeed at the same rate, on average, as those who will never know hunger and who have little to no exposure to unemployment, homelessness and/or
For decades, the United States educational system has provided opportunity for millions of Americans to attend school. However, the gap between the lower income and middle-class students continue to narrow in terms of who will drop out and who would succeed. The articles I chose speak both of issues regarding education and inequality and the growing gap of educational success between the haves and the have nots. In addition, how race and lower class play a large factor on those who succeed and those who do not.The articles also bring to life possible factors such as funding towards a child’s education, in particular the early years, parent involvement and race.
Although the American high school dropout rate has fallen from twelve percent to seven percent over the past few decades, it is still estimated that every 26 seconds an American teenager drops out of high school. Adding to the lack of education from which high school dropouts suffer, they also have a thirty percent chance of living in poverty once dropping out of high school. Unfortunately, the negative impact of the choice to dropout doesn’t stop there. The children of these dropouts are then seven times more likely to drop out of high school when they are of age. This is know as the “poverty trap” because once are you and your family are into the poverty system, it is statistically challenging to get out. It is quite like being snared in a trap. This demonstrates why the reduction of dropout figures is crucial to lowering the rates of
Tracking leads to many disparities between students and possibly feelings of inferiority. “By tracking, schools send a message that some children are gifted, bright, and academic and that others are average, slow, or vocational” (Oakes, 1986, 34). By beginning these tracking practices in elementary school, it “leads to differences in classroom experiences that ted to increase differences among students in achievement, attitudes and interests” (Oakes, 1986, 34). In the case of “N,” these feelings of inferiority may follow her for her whole life. By tracking students, schools are essentially setting students up for either success or failure. By beginning these practices at such a young age, schools are setting the path that these students will likely be on for the rest of their lives as it is very unlikely for students to rise in these programs. It is more likely that they will be lowered into a lesser program. As said by Oakes, “few students…can defy the expectations” (Oakes, 1986, 34). Unfortunately, it is unlikely that “N” will be in a gifted program again after her performance this year, and it is unlikely that she will rise to that level again. However, by beginning to reform curriculums and practices, this may
Those within the lower social tiers don’t have the same opportunities to send themselves or their children to pursue a higher education due to Socioeconomic Status (SES). Marybeth Walpole is an Assistant Professor at Rowan University, Glassboro, New Jersey. Her interests and research include equity issues in college admission and experiences. She investigated the effects of social class origins on educational achievement and attainment. Her research said that “Scholars have found that students from low (SES) backgrounds have lower educational aspirations, persistence rates, and educational attainment than their peers from high SES backgrounds prior to and during college.” She continues to describe the difference between the expectations from families in low SES and high SES. Lower income families can describe their children’s success by getting a full time job after high school or attending a community college. On the contrary higher income families are strict on 4-year college attendance. Of course it would be wrong to say that lower SES students never attend a 4-year college. Professor Walpole does not believe this is true and says “There are, of course, low SES students who attend college after graduating from high school.” “However, In the 4-year period following high school they are less likely to persist to a bachelor’s degree or to have graduate degree aspirations.” From this perspective
Tracking is where students are separated into classes based on their academic ability. According to a 2015 PEW case study 50% of students who drop out are either Hispanic or African American. This shows that because these students are tracked together they are more likely to drop out. One of the problems with tracking is that the students t with high income households and who have support, continue to perform well in school and succeed, while students will low income households and limited resources continue to fail. The students drop out because they don't get the support they need, and when they do drop out they seek support they’re not receiving at home finding it in a gang.
Gamoran, A. (2009) Tracking and inequality: New directions for research and practice. Retrieved December 1, 2011, from University of Wisconsin-Madison, Center for Education Research Website: http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/publications/working Papers/papers.php.
They go to school to find themselves falling short compared to their peers, they go to the cafeteria to be teased for getting free lunches. Not only that, the fact that they can only go to stigmatized “poor people” school in and of itself is a major hinderance to a student’s development. They don’t get the education they need as the lower class schools always struggle to even attempt to get quality teachers and facilities. These schools are also more likely to harbor social issues and crimes like doing drugs and other delinquencies. All factors considered, it can safely be said that poverty and the issues it brings “adversely affect students' mental health (Winters & Cowie, 2009), self-efficacy (Conrath, 1988, 2001), self-image (Ciaccio, 2000a, 2000b), and motivation to do well in school (Beegle, 2006)” (Edutopia). Compared to students whose parents can at least afford the luxury of a stable living quarter, with stable living conditions and adequate support for education, and who can go to more well-off and developed schools like SJHS or above, students born into poverty find themselves confronted by and burdened by numerous hardships and difficulties that lead to the erosion of their health, well-being, and chances to excel in the future; for some of them, there may not even be a future worth looking forward
Having grown up in a lower middle-class neighborhood myself, I have witnessed the challenges many students in these communities experience first-hand. I was lucky enough to attend a school with more resources, but many of my neighbors didn’t receive the same opportunity and struggled to keep up in school. For example, one of my neighbors didn’t have a car after his parents divorced and would miss school if he missed the bus. Other neighbors didn’t have access to computers or had to take care of their siblings while their parents worked, making it difficult for them to do homework. Knowing these children increased my awareness of how situations at home and financial struggles can affect a student’s education.
There are many different factors that affect education. One such factor is, socioeconomic status. Children who attend school in a wealthier community receive a better education than those students in poor communities. In poor communities, student’s education is not only affected by a lack of resources, but also from teaching methods and philosophies. Urban and poor schools’ students do not receive as equal of an education as their more affluent and suburban counterparts do.
Learner may also use poverty as one of the reasons why they drop out of school. When students feel that their parents are unable to afford most of their needs for schooling. When students are in need of school uniforms, lunch money and stationary that is required at the school for them to perform better perform at the top of their potential they feel alone and feel that education will not get them anywhere in life. If there is no one that is successful in the family a child may feel no need to try an go on with something that has not worked for anyone in the family in this way the is no motivation.
Many factors affect a student’s choice of staying in school, including but not limited to where they came from, their academic success, and their individual decisions. There are so many effects to this huge epidemic happening to this generation’s students. Although they cannot completely control how their life goes, making education a focus will benefit them greatly in the long run. The students can gain a sense of accomplishment that can boost their self-esteem and confidence later in life. Although school may not be the most fascinating place to go, in the end the effects are worth every minute of it.
Rumberger, R. W. (n.d.). Poverty and high school dropouts. http://www.apa.org. Retrieved February 20, 2014, from http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/indicator/2013/05/poverty-dropouts.aspx