Drop-out Rates in High School
Individual and Contextual Factors
Understanding the Problem
Individual factor: Pregnancy
Teen pregnancy is very common in the United States, with having "the highest teen birthrate in the industrial world," (Snowman & McCown, 2013). Teenagers, both males and females, say they would be upset if they were to become parents at their age. Statistics show that teenage mothers are less likely to graduate high school and college than other teens because of the lack of support financially from either family or the father of child. My high school was the home for pregnant students in my entire district, with a designated child care center on campus. Other schools in my district would send these young pregnant girls to the high school I went to because they didn't want a negative reputation of their school or the drop out rates, if they chose to quit. One of my close friends I met in high school because of this situation she was in. She ended up graduating and going to college with the support of her family thankfully, but without the support of her child's father. Staying involved in school is vital for society and the futures of these mothers.
Contextual factor: Boredom
Students often lose attentiveness in the classroom because material or the delivery of the material is not very engaging. Teachers have to work hard to draw in students who may not be interested in a certain subject, especially if they do not excel in that subject. "Some students choose to withdraw from school because they are bored or not performing well," (Snowman & McCown, 2013). Schools have to create environments that are engaging and teachers that are influential for students to perform to the best of their ability. Some subjects may be harder than others to be creative with teaching material to the students but it takes teamwork from the entire school to be successful.
Individual factor: Absenteeism
Absenteeism is the practice of staying away from work or school without good reason. Many students get caught up in bad habits, like drugs and alcohol to name a few, and start caring more about these habits than their education. These habits can be caused by problems at home and/or school, and these students think they are better off just not going anymore. I did not experience this while I was in high school, but saw what it did to my family because my brother went through it. He got in with the wrong crowd when he was barely a freshman and ended up going to prison. While incarcerated, he bettered himself by going to college and graduated with 2 degrees before he even got out. Today, he is married with children, and is pursuing another degree. Not all stories end badly, but he worked very hard to get to where he is today.
The Cost of Dropping Out
Resources
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cybrarian77/6284697172 (Picture for Boredom)
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_pregnancy (Picture for Pregnancy)
http://riklepine.com/how-to-handle-the-top-3-objections-network-marketing-training/ (Picture of empty pockets)
http://blog.catchthesun.net/2015/03/punctuating-requests-and-indirect-questions/ (Picture of road sign)
https://youtu.be/eBqz6FrZP2A (Video)