Drugs, Homeless, or Just Fine?- Thats the High School Dropouts | Teen Ink

Drugs, Homeless, or Just Fine?- Thats the High School Dropouts

December 15, 2011
By smileyface98 BRONZE, Lakewood, Colorado
smileyface98 BRONZE, Lakewood, Colorado
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

If about 7 thousand high school students drop out everyday then you figure about 2,555,000 dropout people either turn homeless, get into drugs, or become just fine?
Is dropping out of school really worth it?
Some people may not like school but to get a good paying job, education is a must. So if you want to be in the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Coast Guard you have to have a diploma. If you want to play football in the NFL you have to have a diploma to go to college. Any good job requires a diploma you can live in the middle to high class income zones. I don’t know about but I would want to be able to by myself the cool new gadgets that come out.
Now if you want to work at Burger King, McDonalds, Wendy’s, or any other fast food place that’s your choice. If you get a job at one of these places after you dropout don’t get your hopes up if you can’t get that new phone you want.
If you have to be 17 years-old to dropout you are practically 2 years away from graduating. So, what is the point? Having a diploma is better than a GED. Isn’t it?
The question is WHY? Why do students drop out? Is it because they hate school? Is it because he/she has a child? Is it because they don’t want to spend hours in a building? Is it because they are to cool for school? Is it because he/she has family problems? The answer is more complex. Some students may think that school is stupid, dumb, worthless, and a waste of time but in reality it’s not.
There are 2 races that have the highest dropout rate. Those would be the African- American and Hispanic. About half of these people drop out. The reason is unknown.
There is a reason people go to school. That reason is simple; to become smart and to know the basic things you need to know to start you future career. The teachers don’t teach things just to make you work. The things that you learn will help you later in life; something’s like math and reading are things you use in everyday life whether you realize it or not.
High school dropouts are 4 times more likely to be unemployed. Also, high school dropouts earn $143 less than graduates. The high school dropouts live 9.2 less years than a graduate. Did you know that 82% of prisoners are high school dropouts?
So here in Colorado we have an 82% graduation rate that is better than California and New York which have a 48% graduation rate. If these number keep going down the number of people you see on the street today will nearly triple by the time we can drive. That would be a person on every corner.
School may be a lot of work (to some people) but in the end every piece of homework, every test, every note taking, and every minute spent in a classroom is worth it. You may not think so right now but later on after you dropout you will soon realize just how important school really is. So high school students or students who want to drop out does this make you think twice?

The author's comments:
this is inpired by all of my family who have droped out

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This article has 1 comment.


on Dec. 9 2015 at 12:08 pm
Alicia-Pallavi BRONZE, Houston, Texas
2 articles 0 photos 5 comments
I love how convincing your message was. It was wonderfully written, including statistics.