Staying in School: A Proposal for Raising High-School Graduation Rates

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Staying in School: A Proposal for Raising High-School Graduation Rates

Making school attendance obligatory until age 18 can prevent students dropping out before these age and prevent making a huge mistake that with influence all their lives.

Dropping out before finishing high-school can cause long-term consequences like earning les money, likely to go to jail, less healthy, probably wont get married and is unhappier. A solution would be improving high-school graduation rates and closing the achievement gap. A key element is for all states to increase their minimum school-leaving age to 18.

Individuals with less education are struggling to get good jobs. Recent statistics say that 16% are unemployed and 32% live below the poverty line. individuals with jobs earn an average of only $12.75 per hour, with the most common jobs found in the construction, food services, landscaping industries and truck transportation.

Why do so many students decide to dropout knowing the consequences, but still end doing it? Of course, there is no single explanation: Conflicts at home, urgent financial difficulties, and unexpected pregnancies are only a few examples. Some dropouts say they are too poorly prepared to complete. A majority of these individuals say they are unmotivated or uninspired to go to class. parents, and their teachers. The act of dropping out, therefore, must be understood not as a single event but an outcome that begins with school disengagement, often long before the dropout finally decides to stop coming to class.

Requiring states to establish compulsory-schooling laws set at age 18 is not, however 100% practicable but could be a good way to start. Here are few steps to accomplish it: First, the federal government should educate states on the benefits of high-school graduation and encourage legislative action to increase the minimum age at which students are legally allowed to drop out of high school to 18 years. Second, states should be encouraged to develop new programs to reengage at-risk youth. Third, state and local governments should improve the enforcement of new and existing laws. And fourth, compulsory-schooling laws should be designed to promote college attendance and improve the career outcomes of students.