Dropping Out in a Different Light

Stearns, Glennie. When and why dropouts leave high school (2006) Youth and Society. Print. pp.29-57

Many people not associated with dropping out of high school look down at high school drop-outs, and it's easy to see why. The high school curriculum is dropping yearly. Students are required to learn less and less, just enough to pass equivalence tests, and leniency with grading is increasing. With an easier schooling system which ultimately requires less dedication, why are students still deciding to drop out of high school? Elizabeth Stearns, and Elizabeth Glennie write a great article on multiple reasons why students are deciding to start their lives before they finish 12 years of schooling. These reasons include noble aspects such as a dedication to helping the family either financially or parentally, but also include disciplinary problems, or academic standing (Stearns, 31). The majority of studies on why students drop out seem to ignore the ethnicity, and gender influence that can play a role. Minority boys have a greater chance of dropping out in order to get a job that will help finance a family, than girls or Whites (Stearns, 33). This is due to a different lifestyle where every able body needs to work in order for the family to prosper. When this is the case, a 16 year old comes of age to work and help out a family, and it is his responsibility to do so. It is no longer a better decision to stay in school for two more years, and consequently the student drops out.

It is a problem that this sort of thinking is a little short sited, as studies show the longer you are in school, the better pay you will get in the long run, but a GED has become an option, and opens up doors for students. The ideas in this article are backed up by the illustration of different cultures style of living. Hispanics and Latinos are raised with strong family ties. Working and helping out the family needs to come first, and at the first possible opportunity. Dropping out of high school so this can be a possibility makes more sense when you start to understand that culture. Disciplinary issues also become more understandable when you start realizing why, and what is going on. Teenage years are a time of change and discovery of oneself in life. The submission to a White majority organization may be looked down upon by the minority (Stearns, 33). This outlook on high school as being a different culture, and not part of the “cool” crowd will have an impact on how different cultures accept their set of rules and regulations. The article states how the problems can arise from both sides of the equation. Teachers generalizing a different ethnicity can bring up just as many problems as different ethnicities having a different set of problems with the rules that are in place(Stearns, 36). All in all each reason for possibly dropping out of high school has two sides to the equation.

The question should be what is best for the student? One side of thinking is that staying in high school and getting a high school diploma is best because of the studies that correlate time spent in school, and level of income. But a student can drop out and get a GED which will grant access to most jobs that will help a family faster than staying a couple more years and getting maybe a couple thousand dollars more in salary per year. Ideally our society should be set up for each individual to prosper, but that doesn't seem to be the case for different ethnicities. I don't know what would be the best system for every individual, or if a system could even possibly exist due to all the needs that would have to be met. The current system that we have though is lacking for minorities, which is a problem.