StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

High Rate of High School, College and University Drop-Outs - Essay Example

Summary
The paper 'High Rate of High School, College and University Drop-Outs' states that the final achievement for any high school, college or university student is to graduate in their own discipline. However, not every student graduates as they drop out along the way…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER97.3% of users find it useful
High Rate of High School, College and University Drop-Outs
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "High Rate of High School, College and University Drop-Outs"

High Rate of High School, College and Drop-Outs Introduction The final achievement for any high school, college or university student is to graduate in their own discipline. However, not every student graduates as they drop out along the way. These-drop outs cannot secure meaningful employment and may even turn to crime as a way of sustaining themselves, thus being a disadvantage to themselves and society too. This paper evaluates the reason for drop-outs in high school, college and university, explaining the consequences and possible solutions. A dropout is an individual who has not graduated and yet is not enrolled in school. It can also be defined as a student who quits school before graduating. This results from a lack and eventual stopping of the attendance of classes or indicating to their current school that they are transferring to another one, but never to enroll again (Rumberger 48). Reports show that at least 1.2 million students drop out of high school every year in the United States, 7000 every day, while only 56% of students enrolled in America’s universities and colleges graduate within 6 years (Burrus and Roberts 2). Out of the students who enroll for a two-year degree program, only 29% complete the program within 3 years. There are several factors that act as predictors for dropping out of school. Educational performance is an important predictor on whether or not a student will graduate from high school, college or university. Academic achievement is among “the most widely studied predictors of high school drop out and graduation” (Lim and Rumberger 19). Students must pass in specified courses in order to move on to the next level and if this is not achieved, the student has to repeat the course until they attain the desired grade. Failing classes or courses increases a student’s chances of dropping out, as the student may feel demoralized and incapable. The student’s performance may be affected by their mobility, often associated with residential mobility, as high school students are especially affected even by the change of colleagues. Over-age students also have a higher risk of dropping out than their average aged peers, again due to demoralization. Additionally, student behavior in and out of school may reduce their chances of graduation. Student engagement in school in terms of attending classes without fail; completion of assignments in time; enough preparation before classes; and participation in extra curricular activities go a long way in ensuring the student attains good grades, thus increasing graduation chances and vice versa (Lim and Rumberger 18). Absenteeism, one of the most important risk factors, has a significant relationship with a student’s performance, with students who miss school and classes having higher chances of dropping out than those who do not. Deviant behavior among students increases their chances for dropping out of school. These behaviors include delinquent behavior even outside the school that may involve violence, alcohol and drug abuse and engaging in teenage sexual activities that may lead to child bearing. Students from poor family backgrounds are more likely to drop out of school than high-income students by 5 times, as family poverty is associated with homelessness, food insecurity, domestic violence and parents who are in jail or absent for other reasons such as drug abuse. Moreover, 21% of students in a study once reported that their parents “were not at all aware” of their poor grades and school attendance (Burrus and Roberts 6). These factors are also associated with low performance in school, chronic absenteeism, as well as misbehavior, which may lead to eventual drop out. Family structure also affects the student’s performance. For instance, single-parent families have lower incomes and are more dependent on public assistance than families with both parents. In a 2007 study, 40% of children who lived with their mothers only had an income level below 100% of the poverty level in comparison to those who lived with both parents (Lim and Rumberger 46). With single parenthood, practices such as supervision and monitoring which promote good school achievement are also lower. Other family related factors include marital disruptions, death or illness and family moves. Residential and school mobility due to economic or other changes in the family in most cases affect the student’s performance by impairment of the family’s functionality. This is due to the disruption caused to the valuable social relationships of the children and adults involved. The level of education of the student’s parents also has an impact on whether they graduate or drop out of school. Educated parents help improve their children’s cognitive development through assistance with reading and homework for high school students and motivation and inspiration for college and university students, increasing the chances of dropping out. Students are also affected by the school environment. Students generally perform better in schools where the resources are efficient and will exhibit lower dropout chances and vice versa. Resources include highly trained teachers and good libraries (Lim and Rumberg 63). Schools with strong influence from teachers over discipline, curriculum and in service programs have low drop out rates as compared to those where school and staff decisions are under strong principal leadership. Similarly, the methods used to teach may not help the students with their courses or the teachers may not be fully qualified, resulting in poor performance and possible drop out. Additionally, the community a student lives in may influence a student’s dropout or graduation rate. The presence of facilities such as a library within the community will be useful, while having successful people within the community will serve as an inspiration to the student. On the other hand, availability of blue collar jobs and bad peer influence negatively affects the student’s performance in school and may eventually lead to their drop out. Consequences School dropouts experience bleak economic futures due to their low education levels. Thus, they get the poorest jobs compared to educated workers and are more likely to invest in further training and additional education (Rumberger 86). Thus, they will most likely live in poverty and for most of their lifetimes will be dependent on public assistance. They are also more likely to engage in crime, thus have more chances of arrest and incarceration as well as poorer health, thus shorter life spans than their educated counterparts. Furthermore, they are of minimal help to their communities by depriving them of effective leaders and much needed professional skills. Prevention Prevention involves several strategies that involve the teachers and administrators and the parents. An important strategy is to analyze each student’s behavior, attendance and engagement in class and extra curricula activities, as well as their performance in individual courses (Iver and Iver 2). School administrators should then discuss the student’s overall performance, noting where there may be a problem and finding possible solutions, for instance changing and improving teaching techniques. Meetings with parents and guardians should also be encouraged, where the parents discuss possible indicators of drop out with the teachers involved and possible interventions explored. Where students do not respond positively to interventions offered, community agencies may intervene through counseling, therapies of various kinds and tutoring. Counseling services within the school may also be offered to help students cope with social and personal barriers with the potential to cause them to drop out. In addition, counselors may help the students overcome barriers to their goals by helping them prioritize on what changes they need to make in their lives so as to best achieve these goals, while helping them get to a position of “working through the crisis” (Franklin, Larris and Allen-Meares 40). The student is thus engaged in a solution-building process, whereby they make discoveries of their personal strengths and goals thus increase motivation toward their desired end results. Conclusion Student dropout is an issue affecting many students. Some of the reasons why many students drop out include high poverty levels, family structure and bad behavior exhibited by the student such as misbehavior in school. Such students end up being securing low income employments and exposed to poor health and short life spans, thus affecting not just themselves but also their communities. As such, curbing the rate of dropouts would be important in solving not just individual but also social problems. Works Cited Burrus, J. and Richard Roberts. “Dropping Out of High School: Prevalence, Risk Factors and Remediation Strategies.” Research and Development Connections 18 (2012): 1-9. Web. 23 Mar. 2014 http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/RD_Connections18.pdf Franklin, C., Mary Harris and Paula Allen-Meares, ed. The School Practitioner’s Concise Companion to Preventing Drop out and Attendance Problems. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2008. Print. Iver, M. A. M and D. J. M. Iver. Beyond the Indicators: An Integrated School-Level Approach to Dropout Prevention. George Washington University Center for Equity and Excellence in Education, 2009. Web. 23 Mar. 2014 http://diplomasnow.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/dropout-report-8-11-09.pdf Rumberger, R. and Sun Lim. “Why Students Drop Out of School: A Review of 25 Years of Research.” California Dropout Research Project 15 (2009): 1-132. Web. 23 Mar. 2014 http://cdrp.ucsb.edu/dropouts/pubs_reports.htm Rumberger, R. Dropping Out: Why Students Drop out of High School and What Can Be Done About It. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011. Print. Read More

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF High Rate of High School, College and University Drop-Outs

Understanding the experiences of special education students who did not complete high school

This is a qualitative case study built around the exploration of research questions that inquire into the common experiences of students who dropped out of high school and the common factors that contributed to the decision to drop-out of high school.... UNDERSTANDING THE EXPERIENCES OF SPECIAL EDUCATION STUDENTS WHO DID NOT COMPLETE HIGH SCHOOL This is a qualitative case study built around the exploration of research questions that inquire into the common experiences of students who dropped out of high school and the common factors that contributed to the decision to drop-out of high school....
135 Pages (33750 words) Dissertation

Why Students drop off from School

This paper focuses on how joining college means to give up time for students and devote all their time to studies and achieving high grades in order to be successful in the future, get a good job, earn for the family and basically live a happy life.... Unfortunately some people don't think that way; they believe that college is a burden to their life and that it isn't beneficial at all.... The author believe that “our student would be achieving more, more of them would be graduating and they would be better prepared for college or careers (p6)” Judith L....
14 Pages (3500 words) Annotated Bibliography

Freshman High School Students

The paper "Freshman High School Students" presents that it is designed in an attempt to lessen the incidences of dropping out of the school of high school freshmen.... Research has unearthed information that school drop out rates is mostly coming from the population of high school freshmen.... high school freshmen are vulnerable to a lot of adjustments.... school disengagement of such students has been found to be linked to demographic, motivational, and academic factors....
14 Pages (3500 words) Research Paper

High Dropout of Students in the University

Students are considering high school education as more of a compulsion and a burden from society than a need or necessity.... The paper "High Dropout of Students in the university" describes that students and parents attitude towards education has changed a lot.... Give balanceThe data shows that the proportion of undergraduates in the UK who failed to complete their first year at university increased by 0.... (ibid)In contrast, between 15 per cent and 19 per cent of students at the universities of Greenwich, Sunderland, Bolton and London Metropolitan failed to complete their first year, while one in five studying at the university of Ulster dropped out (ibid)....
15 Pages (3750 words) Research Proposal

High Dropout Rates in the United Sates

This paper “High Dropout Rates in the United States” is to explore the extent to which the United States has been faced with this problem, the reasons contributing, the trend in the dropout rates, the methods of measurements of milestones that can be adapted to reduce the high number of high school dropouts.... Race distribution in any Californian school determines the rate of drop out the school will experience over time.... In the recent years, California schools in the United States have registered high rates of dropout particularly among African-Americans....
12 Pages (3000 words) Research Paper

What's Happening to Public Higher Education

The items selected for the survey sought to determine among other things financing of education by college students, the utility of education to students, the cost of education, factors that influence college choice, factors that contribute to college dropouts, and students' opinions on the effects of cuts in the state budget to education.... -The email response from the questionnaires indicated that the average cost of education, including tuition, room, and board added up to $16,000 at least for all public state colleges while that of private colleges added up to $37,000 -Nearly 10 out of the 15 students interviewed responded relying on loans to assist them with college financing costs....
7 Pages (1750 words) Research Paper

Cause of College Drop-outs

Additionally, the essay describes the importance of high education in contemporary realities.... The aim of the current essay "Cause of College drop-outs" is to examine the college dropout boom phenomenon.... 'Andy Blevins was a student at Radford university who made a big decision big decision in life as a result of financial setbacks but end up regretting in future'(Leonhardt, 15).... ollege dropout boom presents a case that explains the reasons why many college students tend to drop out of school without fully completing the degree or diploma course....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

The Reasons Why Special Education Students Drop Out of High School

The increasing rate of high school students dropping out is a cause for great concern as it is inevitable for most of these students to have educational deficiencies that unconstructively affect thеir career opportunitieѕ аnd ѕocial interests throughout thеir adult liveѕ (Rumberger, 2003).... This essay "The Reasons Why Special Education Students Drop Out of high school" focuses on the top reasons why students with disabilities drop out of high school involves the inclusion of a lot of factors and variables that may correlate to an act of dropping out....
6 Pages (1500 words) Article
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us