Why Are So Many High School Students Dropping out before Graduation - Essay Example

11 March Assignment It has been d by many psychologists, parents and social workers alike, that the lives that children lead during the course of their time in high school, is one of the toughest phases that they go through. They experience a whole new world in high school and are exposed to a lot many adversities of life. What makes all of this so difficult is that while attending high school, children are still young teenagers and not fully developed adults with a rational sense of thinking and thus tend to make decisions that prove to be bad for them. They become involved in many activities that negatively affect their lives and often have trouble meeting people and retaining friends. Moreover, the pressure provided by teachers at school is also a lot more because children are taught to prepare for college, being on the brink of the same, and a great deal is expected out of them from their parents as well as teachers. Amongst all this chaos, many high school children find it very difficult to understand what they want and they begin to lose their voices in the sea of complaints and suggestions from everyone around them. All of this tends to make them feel inadequate and they begin to doubt their capabilities of making it big later in life, so do all these factors make children in high schools desire to drop out of high school before graduation? According to the Department of Education in America, it has been found out that almost 31% of high school children have been found dropping out of high schools. (Convissor, Kate) This problem is prevalent not only in public schools but also the private ones, where more pressure is exerted on the child to excel and do brilliantly, even if it may not be a part of his potential to. There are a number of reasons why young children of the age of merely fifteen and sixteen, no longer desire to be part of high school. Some say that they are tired of going to school because of their peers. A number of children get bullied by others in high school and are terrified of going to classes and thus opt to drop out in order to avoid confrontation with others. This is a very grave issue because children need to be disciplined and anti ragging and bullying campaigns should become a part of schools in order to assist students in living within a safe and healthy environment during their time in school. Moreover, many children are also the victims of peer pressure where students make others experiment with illegal and contraband substances like marijuana, alcohol and make them indulge in smoking, causing children to get afraid and stay at home. Thus such negative attention received from peers is enough to frighten a child and take a decision of staying at home. Another reason could be attributed to the child’s social background; many children come from poor or financially inadequate families and they feel that by dropping out of school they will save their parents the tuition fees. Moreover, they often try to get part time jobs so that they can work and earn the daily bread for their homes. Broken families are rampant in America presently, and many children, even before becoming eighteen year old adults, have begun to work at fast food joints, cafes and shopping malls in order to earn money for their families. Moreover, many children, during their summer jobs or part time jobs decide to work full time and drop out of high school instead because they might not see any opportunities ahead for themselves and thus jump at the chance they have been given to work. Many children even feel that after graduating they might not even get a proper job and thus want to attract whatever they get as soon as possible so as to avoid the rejection later. They feel that they do not have a place in college and thus do not see a point in graduating high school. Educational pressure in terms of academics has become extremely harsh on children in high schools. Not only are children made to take very difficult subjects, but they are also made to study for their college entrance exams and face the brunt of cut throat competition that might deter them from achieving their goals in case they keep failing and do not have the proper motivation or encouragement to move ahead despite the failure. Many children struggle terribly in many classes and are not given the required amount of care and attention in their subjects by their teachers or their parents. They might feel neglected by them and thus fail miserably at their classes, which might lead them to drop out altogether because of the grades that they are not able to manage. Many children even have the problem of attendance because of reasons relating to family issues or even engaging in peer pressure and bad activities that have an adverse effect on their lives. They while away their time engaging in uncalled for activities and miss classes. Bunking classes for hanging out with friends is also another reason why children end up missing classes and at the end of the academic year, when they find that they have poor attendance and are short of the requisite number of classes for writing the final exams, they drop out thinking that they would anyway be failed due to not being allowed to write the finals. Teenage pregnancies are also on the rise these days due to the lack of awareness regarding the practice of safe sex or abstinence from sex altogether. However curiosity leads many children into the wrong hands of fate, getting them pregnant or prey to sexually transmitted diseases, leaving them no option but to drop out of high school in order to correct their mistakes that they may have to live with forever. Children may not have enough credits in their subjects, may be failing classes that they cannot cope with but are taking because of their parents pressuring them to, being disinterested in classes, or experiencing mental illnesses, need to be understood properly. These children require care because otherwise, they tend to give up and drop out of high school before their graduation itself. Many parents are extremely tough on their children and witness a life for them even before they (the children) get to make a decision about the kind of lifestyle that they want to lead. Children may want to become artists but their parents pressure them into studying the sciences and become doctors or engineers. Children soon find that they have no knack for these subjects and thus tend to lose all interest in school based studies. This eventually leads them to drop out of high school as they see no option in carrying on with graduating because if they pass, then they would be caught in the clutches of a wrong subject and forever regret their decisions as well as their mundane lives in the future. Many parents and teachers also tend to get very personal and sarcastic while dealing with children and make them feel as if they are not good enough as they are. They push them to limits that children cannot stand. Children feel misunderstood by their elders and thus in order to find a way out of such a terrible mess, they tend to drop out in order to live simpler lives without their parents following in their wake all the time. Being a high school dropout has worked for a few men in recent history who have managed to make a name for themselves and to make something successful in life. However, this is because of the passion that they possessed and their knowledge of their personal calling in life. Not everyone can be a hero, especially without the required amount of knowledge. High school may be a very tough place to be in, but it is important for every individual to stay strong and attend classes. Making friends and falling into the wrong company are all part and parcel of high school life and children need to decide for themselves what kind of morals they would like to live by in life. Moreover, parents and teachers should be more attentive to the needs of these children in order to assist them in leading a healthy lifestyle. Awareness regarding the importance of studying hard, going to a good college and getting a good job later in order to make one financially stable, is also something that should be instilled in the minds of children because after all they are working towards the future. Whatever they do in high school will follow the children long after they are old and they must be prepared to not regret their decisions. Moreover, children at the young age of fifteen and sixteen are highly impressionable and thus tend to drop out of high school prior to their graduation because of the reasons discussed above. They should thus undergo therapy sessions involving a proper specialist who listens to their needs and helps them travel upon the correct path of choosing a college and graduating high school. Perhaps if these factors are taken care of, the dropout rates will fall for sure. Works Cited Convissor, Kate. "Why Kids Drop Out of School." | EduGuide. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013. Read More