Why didn’t you finish high school? At young age Americans are enrolled in grade school. There is no choice on rather you attend; it is a Monday through Friday event. Teachers, parents, and administration fill your head with the thoughts of walking across a large stage at the end of your senior year of high school and receiving your high school diploma; everyone was set on a path to achieve the same goal. While continuing education throughout grade, middle and high school, different situations take apart in peoples life and education is placed on the back burner. Nowadays in America, without a high school diploma or the equivalent, you are automatically unqualified for 90% of jobs. It is said that without high school diploma you won 't get a good job, won 't make money, buy a good house, provide for your family or get anywhere in life. When students drop out of school, they step into a pit of negative assumptions. Many times, when hearing that someone has dropped out of school, the first thing that comes to mind is that they’re lazy, stupid and taking the easy way out. After hearing 17 different stories about why high school wasn’t finished, I can determine that the basic stereotype does not do everyone justice. There are many factors and reasons why a teen would consider ending their education: pregnancy, responsibilities, drugs, jail, motivation, failure, lack of interest, and many more. One of the most recurring reasons for dropping out is pregnancy. Pregnancy is the number one reason girls drop out of school. Out of the 17 drop outs that shared their story with me, multiple of them had to grow up faster than kids their age. “It was hard to go to school, work, spend time with my child and keep my grades up. I knew getting an edu... ... middle of paper ... ...reasons and factors that cause teens to end their education. America’s high school graduation rate is 22nd out of 27 developed nations. This is a problem and should not be taken lightly. Over the course of the week, I have heard many different stories of why a teen would give up on something they’ve spent so much time with. To those who automatically assume high-school dropouts are lazy, stupid, or poor, they’re wrong. A person can be very successful and respected in society without achieving a diploma. High school is challenging and doesn’t cater to everyone’s life, especially when you have a child or drug addiction. The pressure of receive a high school diploma within a four year plan should not be so stressful and over baring. Everyone has a different story, background, and situation going on in their life and school can’t always be balanced within the equation.
Every single individual has once heard the words “get good grades, go to a good college and graduate, in order to get a good job and succeed in life.” However, no one can really assure that a student with a degree is going to have a better future than those who do not attend college. Lawrence B. Schlack, a retired superintendent, asserts in his article “Not Going to College is a Viable Option” that college is not the only place to go after graduating from high school. By using different kinds of persuasive techniques the author effectively supports his claim and makes the article an understandable and important tool for both parents and students who believe that college is their mandatory option after high school.
Anita Garland argues in her article that American high schools are failing to motivate their students into pursuing a yearning for an education because there have been severe problems occurring in today’s generation of high school students, and the issue is a majority of students who don’t take their education as serious as they should. Several students do not have the desire of guiding themselves with useful information as they did before. There are obstacles into maintaining the level of craving of an education; a variety of Garland’s reasons range from mandatory school attendance, lunch, extracurricular activities, and prom. Some of the reasons Garland introduces are reasons why high school students are having such difficulty in educating
Children are told from a young age that it is mandatory for them to graduate from high school, but it’s not until they are on the verge of dropping out that they hear the importance for staying in school. It is also when they hear how high school students who dropouts learn the incredible price to pay in the future when they give up on an education. Thinking with a teenage state of mind and trying to take the easy way out they go straight for a GED, which is told to be an equivalent earning of a diploma. Stated in a complete listing of educational resources most teachers tend to argue that “The General Educational Development lacks the depth and breadth found in a traditional high school education” (“The Facts about Getting a GED” par.5) Initially, the program was created for World War II veterans to receive their high school education after the war and not for students who decided that they wanted to give up (“General Educational Development” par.1). This was until the year of 1959 when veterans were not the only ones getting there GED but also those adults who had yet to finished high school (par.1). In the article “Dropouts”, from Education Week, it was stated that “Overall, the dropout rate has changed among racial and ethnic groups; the minorities tend to have higher dropout rates than their white classmates”(Kaufman and Bardby par. 4). As of today the GED profile is still changing into 3.5 to 6 million young teens between the age of 16 and 17 year olds who have decided that they do not want to finish school (Haskins par.1). Due to the National Public Radio it was stated that “Many states are willing to reduce the dropout rate by rising the high school dropout age to 18” (Abramson par. 10). This law should be passed throughou...
Obtaining a high school diploma is an important stride into adulthood for most. Despite this fact, “every year, over one point two million students drop out of high school in the United States.” Not having a high school diploma will make it harder for these teenagers later on in life. Many jobs require you to have a high school diploma or GED. Not having a high school diploma will increase the likely hood of students having legal troubles. Dropping out of high school is a life changing choice, and we have to question ourselves are these teenager mental equipped to make that decision? These are some of the reasons why I believe, teenagers should not be allowed to drop out of high school before the age of eighteen.
The primary reason why most college drop outs happen is that students have to work. Having to work in order to pay for tuition costs and other life costs has caused students to deal with a
Dropping out of school may seem reasonable to pupils now, but can have a negative impact in the long run. According to a data collection on average income, “High School Diploma- $27,380. High School Dropout- $19,540”( Source 3). One can clearly see that children who did not dropout of high school made more money than children who did. Money is an essential part of human life and raising the dropout age can increase the pay of many adolescents. Based on Paul Moran’s talk with Missy Remiss, “Those without a high school diploma have lower earnings, higher
A total of 3,030,000 students drop out of high school annually in the United States, thirty six percent of whom drop out in the ninth grade (SB). With each student that drops out, there must also be the thought of said student’s future and how he or she will affect the futures of others. The overwhelming amount of teenagers leaving school will have long term effects on the economy. Assuming a student who has dropped out of school is not going to pursue getting a GED (General Education Development), then according to drop out rates that student “will not be eligible for ninety percent of jobs currently offered in the United States” (SB). By not earning a degree, a dropout cannot make the same amount as a college graduate or even someone who has achieved a diploma. Without being able to get a stable job to support a daily life, people turn to the government for help which in turn cost the public billions of dollars every year. Claudio Sanchez from the National public Radio defined taxpayer’s losses to be “up to 350 billion a year in lost wages, taxable income, health, welfare, and incarceration costs among others” (Zhao). With the public’s loss of money there is no telling how much of what is going where. The money going towards supporting dropouts is a large miss use, seeing as dropouts could have potentially continued school. Students ending education early on and relying on government support will continue to take the economy into an unstable downturn.
Azzam, Amy M. "Why Students Drop Out." Educational Leadership 64.7 (2007): 91. MAS Ultra - School Edition. Web. 7 Feb. 2014.
Another reason we drop out of college is that we want to be independent. A lot of news has been saying that students are sensitive during the adolescence. Because of adolescence, they may think that school is “nothing”, it is just a waste of time. Also, facts have been saying that more and more students are being independent related to the school. A good reason that they are independent is that they want to have their own money. However, when we don’t know how to say no and face whatever problems may cause, we often use to drop out of college to avoid difficulties.
Every 26 seconds one of our kids drops out of high school, that's 1.3 million students each year. The main reason for dropping out, the failure to succeed. Society puts an insurmountable amount of pressure on these kids to succeed, however this can actually be extremely detrimental to the students and children.
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
Besides suffering relationships, there are many consequences to dropping out of high school (Bloom). A dropout's relationship with family, friends, and significant others can fail dramatically (Kokemuller). Dropouts are going to have poor outcomes in life, suc...
First important reason why students drop out school is tuition expenses. In high schools and lower education, most of schools are funded by government, so parents does not much their budget for their children. In higher education, however, parents have to pay tuition. That is a painful problem for poor family. In poor families, they have low salary. Every single dollar is worth for them to survive such as homeless. They better have money for food than go to university because fo...
High school can be tough for many teenagers. Some students may feel as if the classes they are taking are boring or the material being taught will not help them later on in life. These students begin to not show up for class and then their grades start lowering drastically. Next, these students come up with the idea that dropping out is the easiest and fastest way to escape all the stress that is caused by academics. However, they need to start looking at the bigger picture and asking themselves if quitting school is going to help them reach their personal goals. Most people want to live a life filled with laughter and have the least amount of trouble as possible. Dropping out of high school will not bring joy to anyone, it will only affect the dropout and also our society in a negative way.
Education is the key to success and there are multiple ways to boost a student’s confidence while attending high school to enhance a better future for his/herself. It is our job as parents and faculty to keep the students engaged and aware of the repercussions of dropping out and to do everything in our power to keep the students productive and interactive to ensure a bright