High School Drop Out Rates

Introduction

The issue of students dropping from school over the years has attracted the attention of many people in society. Scholars have been in the forefront in seeking possible remedies that can help overcome the cases of student dropping out of high school. Psychologists as well as experts in the field of education have invested heavily in this issue with an aim of identify the reasons behind the high dropout rate in the United States.

In order to understand the subject of our discussion it is important first to understand the root cause of the problem. Therefore, this paper seeks to understand the various causes of high dropout rates of students from high school in the United States. In order to achieve this objective the study will analyze the various scholarly works that have been carried out on the issue in the past.

 The next part of the study will be to analyze the various scholarly recommendations that have been given to deal with the issue of high rate of students dropping out of high school in United States of America. The paper cannot be complete without this part as it is the most essential part, which equips the various education stakeholders with skills and ways of reducing the cases of school drop out among the high school students.

The source of data that has been used in this paper is from scholarly journals that have been written by different authors on the school drop out. The work from each journal will be discussed individually. Each part will consist of three paragraphs, one touching on the reasons of school dropout, recommendations and finally conclusion part (which focus on the trend of the journal in relation to the subject of discussion.)

Literature Review

“School Drop out: Patterns, Causes, Changes and Policies”

 by Ricardo Sabates, Kwame Akyeampong, Jo Westbrook and Frances Hunt (2010)

The journal discusses focus on Tanzania which is an African country where the rate of school drop out among high school students is very high. The journal indentifies the major causes of school drop out among students as individual factors, social factors and economic factors. Individual factors such as poor performance in classes were discouraging the student from continuing with high school education and the op to drop out of school instead of been humiliated by their teachers due to poor performance (Hakielimu, 2007). The issue of students not relating well with others resulting to bullying among students is another major contributing factors. Socio-cultural factors such early marriages have contributed to the high drop out rate of girl child from school in the African countries Tanzania included. Economic hardships such as lack of school fees have denied many students a chance to complete their high school education.

The author concluded that in order to reduce the number of students dropping out from high school there is urgent need for change in education policies. Government should put in place measure to reduce the cost of education with an aim of making education affordable. Secondly, a policy should be put in place prohibiting parents from marrying their daughters at early age. Finally educational programs should be adopted to educate members of the public on importance of high school education (Ananga, 2010).

The journal is well related to the objective of the research as it tackles issues related to high school drop out rate. Though, the journal focuses on Africa state that is Tanzania and Ghana. It gives the various causes of school dropout as well as the possible remedies to reduce the problem.

“Resiliency Skills and Dropout Prevention”

by Kelly Hupfeld

The author of this journal indentifies the various characteristics that are posses by students who usually drop out of school. The factors are social, environmental and economic and they usually influence students to take direction of dropping out of school. Factors such as poverty, poor academic performance, students taking adults roles and students who show signs of disengagement in school activities are some of the things that fuel the rate at which students are dropping out high school (Hammond & Drew, 2007).

The author recommends that there is need of development of resiliency skills among various stakeholders to help curb the high cases of drop out. Students should be trained how to manage stress, setting of personal goals, understanding motivation and building ones self confidence (Jerald, 2007). The above skills can play a major role in helping students to overcome various challenges that contribute to them dropping out of school.

The journal plays a major role in this research work as it identifies the possible causes of dropout rates among students. It also recommends possible remedies to deal with the situation. The problem with this journal it focuses on individual factors more than other factors making the work shallow and unreliable for making a major decision on the issue.

“The Role School Counselors Believe They Should Adopt in Dropout Prevention” by

Christine V. Carr and John P. Galassi

The authors in their research were seeking to understand the role that can be played by counselors in reducing the high number of students dropping out of school. They are in agreement with the other literature that I have collected that negative environmental factors are of the major causes of students dropping out school ( Larsen &Shertzer, 1987).

Therefore, the author carried a study with an aim of indentifying the various ways that various professional counselors can play in preventing students from dropping out of school. They are in agreement that the student needs to be advised on how to deal with various negative psychological conditions that trigger negative emotions toward school life. School counselors should play a major role of restoring hope among students thus; this will go a long way in preventing the high cases of student dropping out of school (Lockhart& Keys, 1998).

The journal provides essential information in relation to the problem of my thesis. It provide insightful information on the role that counselors op to play in helping reduce the number of cases of students who dropout of school due to psychological problems. The problem with the journal is that; the authors concentrated on psychological factors ignoring other aspects that influencing students to dropout of schools.

“High School Dropouts: Can We Reverse the Stagnation in School Graduation?”

By Debbie Blue and Jennifer E. Cook

The authors are in agreement that students’ factors, home environment, socio-economic factors as well as personal traits are some of the major factors that influence the student to drop out of school. Inability to deal with pressure in school, burying, poor performance, lack of motivation and poverty are some of the specific problems that contribute to high dropout rates among students. The authors indicates that there some venerable groups of people in United States where the rate of students dropping out of school is high that is Hispanics students ( Fine, 1987).

In order to curb the rise in number of school dropout cases there is need to involve all people to commit to this course. School administrators should ensure that the school environment is conducive for learning as well as being favorable to the learners.  Policies should be developed to encourage students complete their high school education which is very vital for their future survival in competitive world (Finn, 1989).

The journal is related to the problem of the study and it has focused on areas of my topic of study the only problem is that it has focused the research on certain group of peoples rather than all groups of people.

“High School Dropouts: A Review of Issues and Evidence”

 By Russell W. Rumberger

The authors in their research were seeking to understand the role that can be played by counselors in reducing the high number of students dropping out of school. The rate of high school drop out is very high especially in the United States, it is estimated that there is a student who drops out of school at least after every ten seconds, he is in agreement with the other literature that I have collected that negative environmental factors are of the major causes of students dropping out school.

The journal plays a major role in this research work as it identifies the possible causes of dropout rates among Students School administrators should ensure that the school environment is conducive for learning as well as being favorable to the learners. Students from low income families have high propensity of dropping out of school compared to those who come from rich families.

The journal plays a major role in this research work as it identifies the possible causes of dropout rates among students.  It go a step further  to provide the much needed evidence to support my argument that the number of students dropping out of high school is large.It also recommends possible remedies to deal with the situation. The problem with this journal it focuses on individual factors more than other factors making the work shallow and unreliable for making a major decision on the issue.

Conclusion

From the literature that I have collected it is clear that the rate of student dropping out of high school is very high. The authors of the journals that I have used for this paper are in agreement that certain factors are the major causes of students dropping out of school. Individual, social and economic factors have been identified as the major causes of student dropping out of school.

The issue of poor performance, psychological problems such as lack of motivation is some of the individual factors that influences student from dropping out of school. Poverty which results to lack of school fees have been indentified as major economic factor that leads to students dropping out of school. The authors are in agreement that the students who come from low income families have high propensity of dropping out of school compared to those who come from rich families.  Early marriages among teenagers, pregnancies are some of the social factors that have been identified as been the cause of student dropping out of school.

All the authors are in agreement that in order to prevent or reduce the high rates at which students are dropping out of high school all the stakeholders in the education sectors have a role to play. The school environment should be favorable for all students thus reducing the chances of student running a way from school. An environment which allows for burying of student creates unfavorable environment for learning.

Government should play a policy role of ensuring that policies are formulated to curb the rise in number of students who are dropping out of school. The school counselors also have a major role of counseling students who have psychological problems in order to encourage and inspire them toward working hard and enduring the various problems that rises in their schooling life.

The data collected from the different journals have provided insightful information to the problem of my study. It has provided the causes and possible remedies to the problem of my study. They have also provided a scholarly point of view to the subject of my study.