Sample Research Paper On Dropout Rate In High School Students In America

Education plays an imperative role in the world. It’s a determinant of our life chances and a window of opportunity to succeed in the society. The knowledge acquired in the education institutions, equips us with skills that help unlock doors to highly paid prestige jobs, excellent healthcare, and simply a better life. United States takes pride in its ability to provide high-end and freedom of its access. However, students are still dropping out of school. What precisely is a dropout? Although difficult to define, a dropout is considered a student who leaves education institution for any reason and does not proceed into any additional type of schooling (Hauser and Koenig 10). The American education is failing –one out of three students in public high schools doesn’t graduate. These figures are even high among African-American and immigrants students. The reasons for this epidemic are multifaceted. The administration, media, society are all part of the problem and can play a role in the solutions. Nationwide, study places the graduation rate between 68 and 71 percent, which means that close to a third of all community high school students in the USA do not graduate. For minority students that are African-American, Hispanic and Native American, the rate at which they graduate is approximately 50 percent. Graduation proportions for whites and Asians hang in the range of 75 to 77 percent, respectively, meaning one-quarter of these students fails to graduate. Female students graduate at a little higher rate than their male counterparts on average (Bartos 35). Many reasons trigger an urge to drop out of high school. Different studies report different reasons. One of the recent surveys finds inability fit in the school environment; a notion that school is boring; lack of motivation and academic challenges/ failure as the primary reasons. Almost half (47 percent) said a major reason for dropping out was that classes were not fascinating. These young people cited boredom as the reason they discontinued the high school. Nearly 42 percent spent time with individuals not concerned about their studies. Approximately 7 in 10 respondents said they were not inspired to work hard, majority did less or no homework each day in high school, two-thirds say they would have worked harder if commanded to do so and offered necessary support. The majority of the students gave private reasons for leaving school. 32 percent said they had to get employment to earn money; 26 percent said parenthood was the contributing factor, and 22 percent said family member needed their attention. Many of these youth testified doing realistically well in their studies, and there was a significant likelihood they could have graduated (Rumberger 23-25). A good number dropouts leave school because of significant academic challenges. 35 percent said that “failing in school” was a foremost influence of them dropping out; three out of ten said complained of too much and hard school work; and 43 percent talked of too much absenteeism and could not catch up. Forty-five percent said they had a poor start in high school due to poor earlier schooling. Many of these students fell behind in prior classes and could not make up the crucial ground. 32 percent were made to redo a grade before dropping out, and twenty-nine percent uttered significant fears of meeting the requirement for graduation even if they had put in the essential determination. The most academically challenged students reported that their schools were not doing enough to help students when they had trouble(Rumberger 27-29). Students drop out regardless of ethnicity, but when the word dropout is said, Hispanic and African-Americans often arises. The majority of the schools in the US are significantly affected by the Hispanic and African-Americans school dropouts. Why is a dropout among these groups slightly above the rest? Because dropout endemic in the United States excessively touches young people from low-income, minority, urban, single-parent children that goes to large, public high schools (Bartos 15). A minimum of at least high school education is a requirement for most jobs with many currently asking for post-secondary education. Many dropouts end up unemployed or with fewer chances of finding a job than those with at least high school diplomas. Moreover, school dropouts earn significantly lower income and have lower social status, than their counterparts with a diploma. The available data shows that the school dropouts are low-skilled, live in poverty and mainly depend on government assistance. Also, the inability of these groups to find jobs, high school dropouts have a higher likelihood to end up in crime related activities. In the US, dropouts represent half of prison population, and also dropouts account for more than 50% of people on welfare (Hauser and Koenig 43). Educated and successful individuals steer the world. Education is a very strong determinant of success and yet, according to National Center for Education Statistics, the dropout rate of 16-24-year-olds stands at 8.1% as of year 2009. This data indicates the US have a significant number without even a high school diploma. Prominent companies in today’s world like Apple and Microsoft were formed by people who did not graduate from college, but should not be taken to mean that every dropout will successfully create a multi-billion dollar business. Behind the scenes, there are numerous individuals anguish since they abandoned high school (Tilleczek 29). America has to safeguard its future generation from such dropout rates from school. In order to decrease the dropout in the US, Department of Education in US needs to devise ways to keep students from dropping out of school. Though there are no straightforward solutions to the crisis, there are evidently exists ways implemented in the academic setting and at home that can increase students’ odds of staying in school. While most dropouts fault themselves for failing to graduate, they are quick to indicate there things schools could have done to keep them. Improve education and syllabuses to make school more applicable and appealing and improve the linking between school and work would be a good start. Many indicate there should be more chances for real-world learning and more experimental education. There is a need for students to see clearly the association between school and attainment of a good job. Improve access to a well-structured model for giving instruction for struggling students: a recent study found four out of five dropouts wanted better educators and three-fourths desired smaller classes with more personalized instructions (Tilleczek 43). More than half felt that more needs to be done to assist students who have problems learning, and 70 percent believe with more tutoring, summer school and extra time with teachers can significantly improve chances of graduating. Create a learning climate that encourages academics. Seven out of ten prefers increasing supervision in schools, and more than three in five (62 percent) feels more classroom discipline was necessary. More than half felt their schools did not do enough to help students feel secured from violence. Seven in ten said their schools did not do enough to make school interesting. Ensure that students have a strong relationship with at least one adult in the school: While many 65% says there were staff members or teachers who care about their success, many didn’t have people to talk about school and personal problems. Additional parental participation is desired according to the study. These young people want one-on-one devotion from their teachers, and when they received it, they recollect it making a difference. Research has revealed that if students see their tutors be of a higher excellence, there is a less possibility of them dropping out. More competent teachers who can keep class interesting improve students’ chances of graduating. Increased communication between guardians and education institutions: 71 percent of young people interviewed, felt that one of the ways to keep students in school was to have healthier communication between the parents and the school. Also increasing parental participation in their child’s learning. Parent engagement strategies and personalized graduation plans. Both the schools and the teachers should reinforce their engagement with student’s parents to ensure more follow up is done in terms of homework and assignment completion, plans are communicated to parents and teachers including graduation plans. In Schools and Communities: Different schools for diverse students: Instead of the typical “one-size fits all” school, localities ought to develop choices for students, including a syllabus that joins what they are learning in the classroom with real life practices and with work, smaller learning groups with more personalized teaching mode, and alternate schools that offer specialized programs to students with high likelihood of dropping out. Educators have a duty to cultivate excellent prospects for their students and try various methods to motivate them to learn. Early warning systems: Schools need to come up with early warning systems to help them identify students susceptible to drop out and implement a mechanism to avert the likelihood by according the necessary support for this group of the students. One clear sign is absenteeism. Each and every class day, high schools should maintain a reliable list of the absent students and notify the concerned parties so as to take appropriate action to ensure students go to school and be granted support they need to stay in school. Change the obligatory school age requirements: Students acknowledged “too much freedom” as a critical factor contributing to attendance and eventual dropping out. States should ponder raising the age at which students can legitimately leave school. Together with well-trained teachers, engagement with government organizations, and efforts to address the core conditions that contributes school dropouts in the first place, this act could have a significant outcome on sinking dropout rates. U.S. should be able to perfect its schooling continuously to meet the future challenges. Everybody has a right to learn and therefore everybody should get educated and made to realize the importance of it.

Works Cited

Bartos, Judeen. High School Dropouts. N.p., 2013. Print.
Hauser, Robert M, and Judith A. Koenig. High School Dropout, Graduation, and Completion Rates: Better Data, Better Measures, Better Decisions. Washington: National Academies Press, 2011. Print.
Rumberger, Russell W. Dropping Out: Why Students Drop Out of High School and What Can Be Done About It. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2011. Print.
Tilleczek, Kate C. Why Do Students Drop Out of High School?: Narrative Studies and Social Critiques. Lewiston: E. Mellen Press, 2008. Print.