High School Dropouts

Before reading this article about high school drop outs, I didn't think the topic was that big of a deal. I went to a school where there was at most only one student in our grade that would drop out. I grew up in a farming community so the people that dropped out were usually boys who lived on a big farm and had that to fall back on.

One of the points I found informative is that 5 out of every 100 students will drop out of high school. Of those students that dropped out, Hispanics had the highest rate of drop outs. I was very shocked that 43 percent of the students dropping out were the ages of 15-17. From what I have always understood, if you were under the age of 18 you had to have your parent's permission to drop out. I am very shocked that there are parents out there that will let their children drop out of high school.

There is a higher chance for a student to drop out of high school whose family income is in the bottom 20 percent. If your child is Hispanic or black then they have a higher chance of dropping out then Asians and whites. On the up side, there has been an increase in students who do drop out in completing other forms of getting a high school diploma like a GED.

Dropping out of high school is a serious issue and needs to be addressed by schools and parents around the country. Now days, it is almost impossible to get a job without having a high school diploma. The way the work force is set up now, you about need to have a college education to get a decent job.

I think that schools need to do a better job of addressing the topic. There are things schools can do to help students make it through high school. They can have smaller class sizes so students can have more one on one contact with the teacher. Parents can do a better job also in making sure their kids are staying out of trouble and getting them involved with school or community programs.