Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan Article in my local paper this morning about high school dropout rates. California's Dept. of Education estimates that 24.2 percent of students will leave high school within the next 4 years, with 67.6 percent graduating. (An additional 8.2 percent would earn a GED or move to a private school). I was stunned by those numbers. What in the world will these students do with their lives? Where do they hope to work (if anywhere)? Unbelievable.
Originally Posted By woody A while back I said the schools are in deplorable condition. Most said the schools are good, which really doesn't prove anything. These drop-out rates make all the schools look bad.
Originally Posted By mele <<What in the world will these students do with their lives? Where do they hope to work (if anywhere)? Unbelievable.>> Believe me. I think about this everyday because of my son. We're trying to get him to go to the local technical college this fall so that he can get his GED. Even though he's has scored really high in IQ tests, college is out of the question at this point. Because of his disabilities, the school has bent over backwards to try to educate him. Unfortunately, you can't force someone to learn if they don't want to learn. While there are major problems with our school system(s), I don't think it's all the schools' fault that kids are dropping out. There are a lot of kids these days who don't think they have to do anything they don't want to do, and think they deserve the world handed to them on a platter. I don't have any ideas on how to make it better.
Originally Posted By DVC_dad <<<There are a lot of kids these days who don't think they have to do anything they don't want to do, and think they deserve the world handed to them on a platter.>>> mele that is soooo true! It's sad really.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan I'm sure there are lots of reasons -- lack of parental involvement, emotional issues, peer pressure. I'm also sure there are a large amount of kids, due to constant budget cuts, that don't really have a counselor watching to see that they are on track in terms of graduation requirements until it is way too late to do anything about it.
Originally Posted By DVC_dad I just read a study conducted by Jay P. Greene, Ph. D. Senior Fellow, The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research I'll post a few highlights which will also serve to prove that private education in Georgia is "well worth it." <<<Georgia had the lowest overall graduation rate in the nation with 54% of students graduating, followed by Nevada, Florida, and Washington, D.C.>>> <<< Georgia had the lowest graduation rate among Latino students with 32%>>> <<<Cleveland City had the lowest graduation rate among African-American students with 29%, followed by Milwaukee, Memphis, and Gwinett County, Georgia. Cleveland City also had the lowest graduation rate among Latino students, followed by Georgia’s Dekalb, Gwinnett, and Cobb counties. Less than 50% of African-American students graduated in fifteen of forty-five districts for which there was sufficient data, and less than 50% of Latino students graduated in twenty-one of thirty-six districts for which there was sufficient data.>>> WOW.
Originally Posted By SuperDry Even when I was in high school, I was shocked to know the high percentage of students overall that didn't graduate. In my high school (in whitebread suburbia), it was almost unheard of for someone to just drop out and not finish high school. It was hard for me to appreciate how this is a very real problem in many areas of the country. As to the question "what will these people do with their lives?", that's a good one. Where I grew up, even to get hired on at McDonald's, you needed to either be in high school or have a diploma, and at least a 3.0 GPA. I really don't know what a dropout would do for a job, but it would be something less prestigious than working behind the counter at McDonald's. But this was 20+ years ago, so things may have changed.
Originally Posted By mele Maybe they'll all do what my son is doing to do. Why, he's going to be a rock star!
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << Where do they hope to work (if anywhere)? >> I'm sure the local Army recruiter will be happy to take him.
Originally Posted By barboy Holding a high school diploma is not a prerequisite to bear fruit; having ambition, sound plans, direction and/or luck is.
Originally Posted By Mrs ElderP barboy, I agree that people can go far without a degree, they certainly have in the past, especially when teenagers were dripping out to work hard to contribute to feeding a family. (The family in which they were parents and not children.) However, how much ambition, planning and/or direction can a person have if they can't even get themselves through the very basic process of high school? Child Actors maybe, who alread have a career going, but the picking are slim!!
Originally Posted By rockcow1 ***he's going to be a rock star!*** That's the problem! So many kids see "kids" in hollywood or on stage making millions of dollars and think I can do it too! Not knowing that they have business training or someone working for them that does. All they see is parting, money and material things.
Originally Posted By alexbook A couple of my high school friends didn't bother graduating because they'd already been accepted to college, so maybe that's where they're all going. ;-P (I hung out with a very bright, if odd, crowd: One guy went directly from high school drop-out to graduate student.) Seriously, I'm surprised to see the percentage getting GEDs is so low. I can easily understand not wanting to finish high school, but getting a GED is so easy, and opens so many doors, I really wonder why more kids don't go for it.
Originally Posted By barboy ***he's going to be a rock star!*** You see, "he heard one guitar--- it just blew him away" and now he wants to be a "Jukebox hero, got stars in his eyes" But he doesn't realize that "it's a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll"
Originally Posted By mele Believe me, I agree with you. Whenever we tried to reason with him to get his diploma, he told us we weren't supportive of his dreams. We just bought him a guitar and amp and strings and blah blah blah. Because my son has a disability, his school arranged for him to take a guitar class at school. He flunked it because he wouldn't do any of the work. He refused to learn to read/write music and I have the sneaking suspicion that he has never played an entire song, start to finish. For every ounce of natural talent he has, he's lacking an equal amount of ambition. It's sad and frustrating as hell. We've made things too easy for kids today. They expect the best at the very beginning and if they don't get it, they quit.
Originally Posted By mele <<but getting a GED is so easy, and opens so many doors, I really wonder why more kids don't go for it.>> Cos then they'd have to get jobs or get serious about life? We're trying to get our son to get his GED this fall/winter. We live really close to a good vo-tech college. He's a 2 time felon, so finding a job is harder so we told him we'd help him get his GED and some sort of certificate in something, ANYTHING so once he's off probation and his record is clean, he'd be ready to go. He wasn't interested, though. Turning eighteen is going to be one hell of a wake up call.
Originally Posted By woody >>Whenever we tried to reason with him to get his diploma<< I don't get your parenting. Why are you bothering with reasoning? Be the parent. Use your authority now or it will be gone very soon when he turn 18.
