High School Dropouts: The Pain We All Share

When Laura grows up, she wants to be a Veterinarian. When William grows up, he would like to be a doctor. Susan wants to be a teacher. Antonio: a lawyer. Two of them will not make it past their sophomore year in high school, due to social pressure, under-funded schools, familial pressure/obligation or drugs. Those two who do not make it through high school have a significantly higher probability of ending up on welfare, having a part in gang activity, and becoming homeless. Everybody pays when a student drops out of high school, but it is not just money that is being sacrificed when it comes tothe care of former students who have decided to leave the system. Our entire economy suffers as a result of students dropping out. "It's expensive," states Valerie Bauman from the Associated Press State and Local Wire, "in terms of lost revenue to the state because it's a difference between a person having a job or being on some kind of assistance from the state.... Their parents and grandparents did not face the same job market. It's estimated that by the year 2010 only eight percent of the jobs in this country will be able to be handled by a high school dropout. Approximately thirty years ago 30 percent of jobs could have been handled by a high school dropout." And the people who suffer the most are the high school dropouts themselves. It has been said that "education is a key determinant of health. Without education, youth are at risk of entering a cycle of poverty, which includes unemployment, homelessness and poor health." (Grodzinski A9). Everybody suffers when a student decides to drop out of high school and students who make the decision to drop out are becoming more and more common. When more than "a million students are dropping out of high school every year," (Meadows A1) it is fair to say that it is a problem of epidemic proportions. The problem can definitely be slowed, however, and many communities are trying their hand at new fixes and new funding that may very well do the trick. With the right sort of people supporting the American education system, perhaps even one day the issue will no longer be an issue at all.