What Can Stop Kids From Dropping Out By David L. Kirp

In today’s society it has become even more crucial to obtain knowledge and graduate from high school. In the article “The True Cost of High School Dropouts” Henry M. Levin and Cecilia E. Rouse explain that the dropout rate imposes a heavy cost on the economy. Henry M. Levin is a professor of economics and education at Columbia University. Cecilia E. Rouse is a professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University. She also was a member of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2009 to 2011. This article was found on “The New York Times” and was published Jan. 25th, 2012. They begin with stating the facts and giving sources to build credibility. They then go into what is being done wrong and what needs to be done in order to improve.

In "College Isn 't for Everyone," W.J. Reeves argues that colleges have become too easy to enter and students show a lack of drive to succeed once enrolled in college. Reeves believes colleges should raise expectations when accepting students into their schools, and the students admitted continue to demonstrate responsibility during the years spent at school. He points out colleges have lowered the bar when it comes to admissions due to the fact that a college cannot exist without a funding source. Reeves argues against unwilling matriculations by drawing your attention to the fact those students are not ready for college. Reeves is specific on the areas where students are slacking most in. He cites another professor 's experience with a student where the student informed the professor of a very elaborate excuse as to why they had not come to class. He

First of all, High school dropouts is an issue occurring since a very long time ago because it has been proven that many students are unsuccessful after dropping out of high school. As mentioned before, every year over 1.2 million students drop out of high school. As Richmond mentions, “an estimated 1 million students will fail to graduate this year, a loss of 5,500 students for every day on the academic calendar” (Richmond 1). This is a big quantity of students who will have no education guidance into their future. Texas is one of the top three states with higher dropout rates along with California and Florida. Also, there is no rate difference between genders just that boys and girls dropout for different reasons. Although, people will say that this issue does not affect them particularly, these dropout students will affect our economy in the future. As Lynch states, “The financial ramifications of dropping out of high school hurt more than the individual” (Lynch par. 6). Since students

Money is a major problem for parents if their child is dropping out of school. Many children depend on their parent’s money to get them through college. If a student decides to not attend any more classes and not tell their parents, their parents are still spending their money on the student’s education. As the article says, “you’re coughing up $60,000 a year” it is true. The parents are spending money on nothing. This issue between the child and the parent

In October 2000, the overall picture of high school dropouts had changed little since the late 1980s (Kaufman et al. 2001): For every 100 young adults enrolled in high school in October 1999, 5 had left school without completing a program; of 34.6 million U.S. young adults aged 16-24, 3.8 million—almost 11 percent—had not completed high school and were not enrolled. Some studies have shown that students in schools with a concentration of multiple risk factors (e.g., large schools, large classes, high poverty, inner city location) have less than one chance in two of graduating from high school; furthermore, the economic costs of dropping out have increased as time goes on (Castellano et al. 2001). Adjusting for 50

Many students struggle and struggle to pay their loans back, some even into their late fifties. This both our faults and the governments fault. If tuition wasn’t as high we wouldn’t have so much debt, but again it was our choice to sign the papers for a lifetime of paying back the cost of our education. We value education, and that is why we agree to pay as much as we do. We hope to further our education so that somewhere down the line it pays us more than it originally cost. Because the more degrees we have, the better chance we have at a better job. But the government is responsible for raising their prices on tuition. By raising our tuition the teachers got raises on their checks. But sometimes our debt isn’t always worth it, a good amount of students drop out from college each year without finishing their degree but they still have to pay for the classes they took even though it doesn’t benefit them in the end because they have no degree. (Sam Adolphsen, 183)

Marty Nemko, in the article, “We Send Too Many Students To College,” acknowledges that colleges have become obscenely expensive and that it is possible to be successful without going to college. Arguing that too many students are sent to college without realizing that it is not imperative, Nemko targets parents in his claims that colleges focus on educating in the cheapest way possible and most importantly, that the advantage of past college graduates in the job market is declining. One of his main reasons is that even though the average college graduate makes more money, hundreds of thousands of students in the bottom half of their high school class do not succeed in higher education. Nemko’s article is the most persuasive article on whether college education still has value as he argues that college is not beneficial to everyone through demonstrations of hyperbole, and figurative language.

Colleges are noticing a drop in students’ interest in a higher education, because it forces them to fall into poverty. Obtaining a higher education is a dream of many working class citizens, but the price to go to a choice college is not available economically. The majority of students use some type of student loan, they have become the norm for attending college (Johnston, Roten 24). College is becoming unaffordable to many lower class students. With tuition prices this high, students are backing out of school and looking for jobs that only require a high school diploma. Student loans should help people, but it is only hurting them because they feel like they can never repay it. Especially since student debt continues to rise. “Student loan debt rose by 328 percent from $241 million in 2003 to $1.08 trillion in 2013, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York” (Johnston, Roten 25).

Across the United States, high school students can encounter a variety of issues that hinder their ability to successfully complete course work to earn the required credits towards graduation. High schools across the United States have an obligation to ensure that students are achieving and receiving a diploma. It is also in the school’s best interest to ensure students are gradating both funding wise and for the overall school rating. When a student does not receive a high school diploma the action affects the student, community and the school. High school dropouts may find it harder to obtain a job that would provide a stable and productive income verses a high school graduate thus, the financial disadvantage in turn can cause

Students from all over the United States are told all through their life that they need to attend college if they ever want to be successful, however, this is far from the truth. Often schools are culprits for driving students to attend money driven colleges, in other cases it is family. While schools all too often make the push on students to continue their schooling, parents can cause the same situation, as they may not have a degree and be working a low-paying factory job. Now kids already don’t want to be like their parents when they get older, so seeing them suffer in poverty or barely above the poverty line can cause some dissatisfaction, further seeking a degree to live a life that they never got. What many

David Leanhardt a correspondent for the New York Times stated in The College Dropout Boom that often times the thought of high tuition prices scare students away, especially lower-income students, before they even think about attending a college (92). And there is good reason for this. With the average four year degree costing $91,304 at public colleges and $179,000 at private universities (Merrow), tuition prices are ridiculously high. How are people expected to get an education with school costing so much? In the article Angela Whitiker’s Climb Isabel Wilkerson tells of Mrs. Whitiker’s near impossible climb out of poverty and into the upper-middle class. Ms. Whitaker, faced many struggles on her way up the ladder, but she worked hard, and eventually she wound up on top. Still through all of her hard work she could not have gotten to where she is now on her own. She needed someone to support her and her family emotionally, physically, and financially just for her to graduate with an Associate’s degree (202-16). It took a lot of time and effort for Mrs. Whitiker to get out of the place she was born into, and at times it looked like she would never get out, but she pushed forward, and lucked out. Most people don’t have the drive Mrs. Whitiker had, many students simply leave college when they begin to feel the pressure. In a study over college students, Merrow found that

High school dropout is not an issue that solely affects North Carolina. In fact, the term “dropout factory” is one that can be found in research articles and news reports across the country. This term has been ascribed to as many as 1,700 high schools nationally (Tyler & Lofstrom, 2009). With this volume of schools being labeled as schools that allow, and possibly even stimulate, large number of students not to continue onto graduation with their peers, the question is posed; why are students dropping out? This question does not have one answer, but rather several factors both within and without of the school’s control.

It is proven that college graduates earn more money compared to college dropouts and below. According to the PBS frontline article called “By the Numbers: Dropping Out of High School”, the average dropout earns an annual income of $20,241, which is a full 10 thousand less compared to the typical high school graduate, and 36 thousand less than someone with a bachelor’s degree. Shockingly, dropouts between the ages of 18 and 24 are more than twice as likely as college graduates to live in poverty, they experience a poverty rate of 30.8 percent, compared to the bachelor’s degree poverty rate of 13.5 percent. Therefore this widens the wage gap if there is improper or demotivational schooling. There are multiple factors as to why students drop out are do to... high rates of absenteeism, low levels of school engagement, low parental education, work or family responsibilities, problematic or deviant behavior, moving to a new school in the ninth grade, and attending a school with lower achievement scores. The nation should take notice because poorly educated people can restrict the cites’ capacity to prosper and innovate. In a way, poor education leads to a poor lifestyle that can affect the

The dropout problem is not only an individual problem, but it is costly to society as a whole. Warren & Halpen-Manners (2007) explained, “high school dropouts is of fundamental social, economic, and political importance and has major implications for educational policy and practice, patterns of economic and racial/ethnic inequality, and the quality of America’s workforce” (p. 335). Coupled with that, Neild et al (2008) further argued going through the portal into adult life without high school credentials carries severe economic and employment penalties. Also, Kennelly (2007) explained “When students drop out…. the toll of the quality of life and the prosperity and competitiveness of the communities where they live and collectively across

Life is believed to be easier for people with higher degrees than for those without higher degrees. Hence, it is the joy of parents to see their children admitted into a higher institution. With the high cost attached to attending a four year university, most students prefer to attend community colleges. Community colleges provide the same quality of education offered by universities for the first two years at a lower cost which help students reduce debts toward getting their higher degree. However, compared to the number of students who started their first year in community colleges, a large percentage dropped out. This is common to both freshly graduated high school students and adults who came back to college to obtain a degree. Students drop out of colleges because of financial issues and the need to take remedial courses. As a result, they have self esteem issues and may remain poor.