Droput Nation: American Schools are in Crisis

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 21:24:00 GMT

By Angelique Gayle

This staged photo satirizes the problem of slacking students.

The world may not be what it once was. The changes are visible in America’s educational system. Current statistics show that 1 out of every 3 high school students around the nation will not graduate. This information is not so much shocking as it is disturbing. Every 26 seconds, another child drops out of school. America is becoming a Dropout Nation. “I think students dropout because of low GPAs, because they don’t really care, or because of outside infuence and peer pressure. I don’t think it has much to do with the work. If you are a dedicated student, you do what you have to do to pass,” said recent graduate Ingrid Ramos. Most students think that they have control over their own education. “Students these days are too lazy. They don’t want to do this and they think they can live their lives without a high school education but it’s not possible,” said junior Orestes Coto. In cases such as this, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is working diligently to refurbish schools across America. The foundation has supported an estimated 50 “early college” high schools and the number is projected to be 120 by 2008. Although this phenomena is not resting in one area: suburban, rural or urban – the likeliness that a Hispanic or African American student will drop out is higher than that of their white counterparts. The picture is even hazier for urban schools serving poor students. “Our research paints a much starker picture of the challenges we face in high school graduation. When 30 percent of our ninth-graders [ultimately] fail to finish high school with a diploma, we are dealing with a crisis that has frightening implications for our ... future,” says Christopher Swanson, director of the EDE Research Center in an article published in The Christian Science Monitor.

The Harbinger

Droput Nation: American Schools are in Crisis