Dropping Out of High School

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Close to 3 million teens choose to drop out of high school every year, thus engrossing the ranks of the sub-employed population. There are of course notable exceptions among them, such as young people with remarkable business or artistic skills. But, as a whole, the damage done to them and to the country is enormous. It is my opinion as an educator that the public school system has failed in its mission to offer a meaningful free education tailored to every need and ability. School districts emphasize rightly so that a high school diploma can afford significant higher pay over a lifetime; there is however another aspect that the system fails to address: Every child has special needs, not just those with the special education label.

A unique problem is found in one parent families: Half of Black children live in mother-only households according to the Center for Educational Statistics (2006); the figure is 25% for Hispanic children and 16% for White students. This factor must be taken into account when studying the causes of early drop-out rates for each ethnicity. Another important issue is the level of income: Many single mothers have to cope with two jobs to make ends meet and cannot always rely on close relatives to watch over their young children; these are faced with an empty home when returning from school. Alcoholism and drug abuse are of course factors that also have a tremendous impact on the academic success or failure of children, but the main cause is found in the lack of effective counseling and support in the school environment.

When an 8th grader enters high school for the first time, he or she is usually processed very quickly due the high number of new arrivals. They get their schedule which is based on choices they made while in 8th grade, at least as far as electives are concerned. If they are labeled as special education students, they are referred to one specialized teacher who will oversee their progress or lack thereof during the next 4 years. But even these will not receive the attention they deserve as teachers simply don’t have the time and/or the training to connect emotionally to a child who may be burdened with serious psychological baggage. Even the school counselors, whose position should indicate that they have the training and the time to actually counsel, complain that the enormous amount of paperwork precludes meaningful one-on-one relationships. Each counselor may be in charge of more than 200 students, a herculean task by any means.

The solution is at hand; Jobs for America’s Graduates is doing just that. Pregnancy, attendance and low grades are usually the main culprits for dropping out and they attack these problems by pulling out these at-risk students and working with them with highly qualified professionals. Social skills and employability factors are taught according to the individual needs. They listen and they act. The cost is approximately $1,500 a year per student, an excellent investment for the school district since they lose money every time a student drops out. They have a graduation rate of 80% and employ a lot of retired teachers who give 3 classes a day to 15 students. But the emphasis is not only on academic excellence; it is a mentoring program that restores self-esteem to a lot of troubled kids.

School districts, with the help of the federal government, can and must focus on saving as many at-risk high school students as possible by doing the following:

1. One-on-one counseling.

2. Job placement.

3. Vocational training in the area chosen by the student.

4. Restoring self-esteem by using older experienced mentors who know how to listen.

5. Medical support for pregnancies and drug abuse.

6. Obtaining community support.

7. Strenuous physical activities, including sports.

8. Compassionate discipline.

9. Restoring hope by working with their families.

10. Careful follow-up for at least 5 years.

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Source by Jacques Sprenger