In my chemistry class Ava is there almost everyday and has a really good grade in the class. But one of my other classmates is the opposite, he shows up every other day and his grades are below passing. The act of staying away from school without good reason is called truancy. Truancy is among one of the biggest issues we face at Nebraska City High School and the imposition of harsher consequences, making school more appealing, and offering positive peer influences are some of my solutions to fix this problem. Truancy is one of the top issues that we face at Nebraska City High School. The current policy is that a student should not have any more than eight unexcused absences for each semester, or twenty total for the year. Based on reports gathered from Mrs. Russel eighteen students grades 9 through 12th have already violated the school’s truancy policy. In the first semester of school this year 63 students missed more than the eight days mark. As we find ourselves almost half way through second semester, a total of 22 students are again over eight days. If students fail to show up to school grades will suffer and they will fail to graduate. Starting off in the world without a high school diploma will hurt opportunities to find a stable well paying job. One way to handle truancy is to enforce harsher consequences. In the student handbook it states that, “Students are expected to attend school every day it is in session.” When I read this I laughed a little to myself. I take a class with a student who will, on a good week, show up to school three out of five days. If he does show up, he will never be on time. When asked why he does not show up to school more often his usual response is, “Why should I when there is no real punish... ... middle of paper ... ...r them they can agree to pick up the other student on days that they can. What about the legal side of this? The legal issue is the most important part of this program. The student that is wanting the ride will have to have his/her parent sign a release form stating that it is alright if the other student drives them to school. The same would go for the student giving the ride and release form would have to be signed give the student permission to drive their fellow student to school. Truancy is a big problem at Nebraska City High School, and in other schools around the country. My solutions for this problem is the enforcement of harsher punishment, making school more appealing to students, and by making a positive peer influence available. If one or all of these solutions were to be put in place the student who never is at school could become a straight A student!
I agree with Garland I feel that attendance shouldn’t be mandatory because that’s just forcing those who don’t want to learn go to school. Those who are always getting into fights and causing problems shouldn’t be able to attend school. I like how Garland talks about why mandatory attendance is just based upon the idea that every American has the right to basic education. “But as the old saying goes, your rights stop where the next guy’s begin” (620). Garland explains how every student who wants an education regardless of their inabilities should find a way to receive an education. On the other hand, I remember when I used to go to high school and I witnessed how my friends thought attendance was a big joke. My classmates would always show up late or not even bother to show up. Participation points weren’t a big deal in Hope Academy since all of our classes were online. It didn’t take long before the school started to enforce strict rules. If one doesn’t want to attend school, shouldn’t show up. I feel that mandatory attendance is outrageous. One who wants to learn will find a way to receive an education. Mandatory attendance just gives the trouble-makers an opportunity to waste everyone’s time for those who really want to learn. To sum up, mandatory attendance shouldn’t be allowed. Schools are learning centers that provide students education they aren’t centers of entertainments. Garland also talks about school cafeterias and how they serve unhealthy
“More than 3,000 youngsters will drop out will drop out today and every day for the rest of the school year, until about 600,000 are lost by June. One in four will pass through the correctional system, and at least two or three of those will be dropouts.” (Barber pg. 209) In Benjamin Barber’s essay, “Americans Skip School,” the American Educational Systems underlying problems are revealed and expose society’s ignorance to the importance of receiving an education. Statistics display the quantity of students in America that drop out of school and become criminals, nonetheless Americans continue to sidestep the issue. How can we expect students to listen to their teachers when they lack guidance and encouragement from their parents? Skewed moral
Some of the brightest young students at this school are faced with a growing problem. In class there are disruptive and downright rude students who do not contribute to the learning environment. These bad students are a terrible influence to the rest of the school community, those who don’t care about their education are more likely to get involved with violence and gangs. Some of these students are simply “un-teachable” and are a waste of time and space, overcrowding the school and ruining its reputation. We must heed the saying “A rotten apple will spoil the whole barrel.” After all, what will become of these worthless people in the future? I hereby suggest a proposal to eliminate all of these social ills, make use of high school dropouts and the like, and better our society in the process: Excluding those with learning disabilities, disruptive, non-contributing high school students with low GPAs and test scores should be enslaved to do physical labor, if prisoners do not work hard enough, they will be executed.
Suspended children are missing out on valuable school time. These children often miss out on important exams and assignments. “Many of these children are missing out on the education their schools are providing, and they are learning far worse lessons away from those schools” (Henault 548).
Throughout my school career, I always had perfect attendance, until moving houses I accumulated a total of 45 tardies which is equivalent to 15 absences. Not only was I tardy all the time, I was also unable to participate in afterschool activities because if I did then I will arrive in my house at
Several students today receive in-school suspension and out-of-school suspensions that remove them from the classroom environment. While some teachers argue that this helps maintain the equilibrium of a learning environment, the academics of those students must also be taken into consideration when discussing the effectiveness of these methods. A study done by the Minnesota Department of Education shows that, “suspension is associated with a host of negative student outcomes, including diminished academic achievement and dropout. Suspension diminishes academic achievement in part because of missed instructional time” (5). When I missed three weeks of school during my sophomore year due to the flu, I struggled to catch up with all my subjects and to raise my grades. I was not under disciplinary actions, but because I was removed from the academic scene, my academic achievements diminished and I struggled to catch up to my peers. If students who are under disciplinary actions are unable to class, then how will they learn? It is all too easy to remove a student causing a disturbance and forget about them, but that student also deserves an education. In that light, the current disciplinary actions in place are not at all beneficial. Rather, students taken out of the academic environment are put at a
There can be measures taken to prevent high school dropouts, and we as future educators are part of the solutions. This problem may be chronic and may have been going on for many years but that does not mean we should not take action and feel entitled to want to make a difference.
Schools are in great need of systems, processes, and personnel who are able to support the needs of students with problem behavior. Research indicates, however, that (while I am a big, fat cheater) information has not been made available to teachers and other professionals in a format that allows these strategies to become common practice. Many teachers choose isolated behavioral strategies that are not applied immediately after the problem behavior has occurred.
According to the Children’s Defense Fund, in 1989 an average of 1,375 children dropped out of school every day. As a future educator, my reaction to this figure is one of horror and disbelief. Once I get past the shock of such a figure and the obligatory rhetorical questions: How could we let this happen?, I become an investigator. I begin to look for patterns in the profiles of students who have failed. I consider the curriculum these students ingest and how it is fed to them. I try to understand what circumstances result in the forsaking of 1,375 students per day.
Expectations of today’s educational qualifications for high school students are different than it was in the past. It is not uncommon to hear about a student who did not graduate from school. As shown in table 1, 97 students from Stanly County dropped out of school in the 2011- 2012 school year (“Grade 7-13 Dropout Counts and Rates (pdf.62kb)”). Last school year 3.01 percent of North Carolina’s high school students dropped out of school according to the 2011-12 Consolidated Data Report, as a result the total number of students who dropped out of high school in the 2012 year is 13,488. It is also noted that the top five reasons NC students drop out of school are: 1. Attendance, 2. Enrollment in a Community College, 3. Unknown, 4. Moved, School status unknown, 5. Lack of Engagement. (“Dropout prevention and Intervention”) This number is very high considering that there are only five major high schools in the Stanly county district. This is why I think it is important that something should be done to reduce the high school dropout rate in Stanly County.
Unlike many students who are excited about the weekend on Friday, and burnt out by Wednesday, these students appear to be the opposite. Most likely these students have home lives, which are filled with neglect, violence, and fear, and school provides a sense of sanctuary for them. I think that these students appreciate the structure and teacher involvement in school, since it is most likely the place where they receive the most guidance and are treated like the children they are. Overall, I think that being at school allows for the students to be children where their lives outside of school require them to be mature beyond their years. The structure of school provides security for these students, a security which they do not most likely get outside of
Family issues, poverty, and homelessness cause students to drop out of high school as it impacts education by placing stressful obstacles in children’s learning path. A National study found, “Overall, 22 percent of children who have lived in poverty do not graduate from high school, compared to 6 percent of those who have never been poor” (National Study). Lack of educational success can also contribute to throwing in the towel on school. Some students may not be receiving the additional supports to give them success in school. Imagine coming home on the bus after a ten hour day and having your ninth grader ask for help on their algebra. If you possessed the skills, which you likely do not, you may be too exhausted to help. In addition there is still dinner to cook and other household chores to complete. It is a daunting request that you may not be able to comply with. “Family poverty is associated with a number of adverse conditions — high mobility and homelessness; hunger and food insecurity; parents who are in jail or absent; domestic violence; drug abuse and other problem…” (Shonkoff & Garner, 2012 as quoted by Rumberger). Poverty is an obstacle to learning even for the brightest children. As a result few can overcome these stumbling
There are many effects on society as a whole due to students that drop out of high school. The effects on the student who drops out are just as great as they are on society. “Of the 4 million students who enter high school every year, one million of them will drop out before graduation” (Whitaker, 2012). When an individual makes the conscious decision to drop out of high school, many times the decision is made without regard to the consequences that can ensue. There are many effects of the decision on the individual, their families, and society as a whole. The leading reasons for dropping out of high school surround academic difficulty and failure, poor attendance, being held back, disengagement from school, and other life factors (Convisor, n.d.). This is an indication that most of these teens do not think about (or sometimes even care about) how decisions made today will effect tomorrow. This paper is to inform the reader of the effects of students dropping out of high school. Included will be effects on the individuals, their families, and society.
... Even the students who are seemingly responsible for a job outside of school have a higher dropout risk if they exceed twenty hours of work a week (Rumberger and Lim 2). Students need to learn where to prioritize when it comes to schoolwork and recognize the influences on school priorities if they want to be successful in their educational careers. 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 of this huge epidemic happening to this generation’s students.
Both tardiness and absenteeism can be influenced by a lack of support from the community, family support, transportation problems, poor health, etc. (Teasley, 2004). Other possible reasons that may influence students to be absent are those that come from the school environment. Lacking support from teachers, feeling unsafe because of bullying or other factors, difficulty with content, etc., are some examples. Ken Reid’s article “The causes, views and traits of school absenteeism and truancy” explains that secondary school student’s reasons for being absent are school-related (Reid, 2005). Because of this research, secondary school teachers are in the position to question, ask then fix the problems in the classroom that are causing a student or students to be frequently absent especially when students may feel like these things are out of their control causing them to feel like they are caught in a cycle where there is no way to salvage their