A Dropout's Grim Future
Jolijt Tamanaha
Maria is 17 and in September she should be starting 12th grade. However, on September 4th while thousands of NYC kids will be getting on school buses, Maria will be at some guy’s house somewhere. That’s because she can’t go home. Her father is abusive and her mother’s a drunk. Her older brother is in a well-known gang.
Maria used to go to a public school. She was at the bottom of her class even though there wasn’t
really bottom. Maria couldn’t find anything she was good at. Her school was violent and riddled with
gangs and drugs. Fistfights were a part of their daily routine and many times fistfights escalated to knife fights. Knife fights usually ended in cops, the hospital and sometimes court.
One day Maria got involved in one of those fistfights. It ended with two broken noses and the
school telling Maria she was no longer welcome.
Maria had nowhere to turn. If she went home her father would go into one of his rages and probably
kill her. She couldn’t go to another school. No other school would take her. At least, no one would take her without parents to sign her up. Besides, Maria didn’t want to go back to school. She
was 15 and done with all the stupidity. She was done with failing grades, summer school and homework she wasn’t going to do anyway. So Maria found that “some guy” who beats her when he’s drunk. She drifts between his place and the street. She sleeps with men for money and many times she robs them on her way out. She spends the rest of her time high or finding ways to become high or sometimes she does both at the same time.
Maria is a figment of my imagination but as a representative of Hispanic dropouts her failure was
expected. In 2004, according to the Child Trend Databank, Hispanic students aged 16-24 made up 40% of all high school dropouts. About half of all Hispanic, Black and Native American students don’t graduate from a public high school with their class. They either drop out or are held back.
Maria’s family has a very low income. Anyone who’s family makes less then 30% of the average American income is considered most at risk for dropping out. Many low-income students will leave school in order to help support the family. About 1.2 million students are considered “at risk” and about 85% of them get free or reduced price lunch.
Dropping out of school may seem like an obvious money fix but those students who leave are in
trouble in the long run. According to “Communities in Schools” students who drop out of high school are more likely to be unemployed. 23% of adults with a bachelor degree are unemployed compared to 57% of adult dropouts who are unemployed. Even a high school degree can make a difference because 60% of adults with just a high school degree are employed. Dropping out of school creates other problems besides unemployment. According to the Gates Foundation dropouts are more likely to experience poverty, be on public assistance, be on death row, be unhealthy, be divorced and have children who drop out of high school.
Dropouts are also more likely to end up in prison. Every year American taxpayers spend an estimated $22 billion dollars keeping dropouts in state prisons. It costs Communities
in Schools about $100 per student, to help prevent teens from leaving school. That $22 billion dollars could be used to help prevent 220,000,000 students from dropping out. That is 183,333,000 times the national estimate of at risk students or 218,800,000 more students then at risk. Had enough of numbers?
My point is, the money we spend on keeping dropouts in prison could be used to avoid those crimes all together. Actually we could spend about $1.2 billion helping the “at risk” students and keeping the other $20.8 billion college scholarships or community centers. Obviously we wouldn’t be able to stop all high school dropouts but let’s say we cut the amount of dropouts by 50% we would save about $9.8 billion.
50% is actually a realistic number. CIS (Communities in Schools) works with at risk students.
CIS reports that the students it worked with in the 2005-2006 school year drastically improved.
80% of CIS’s students improved attendance and 80% got promoted to the next year. Of the CIS graduated seniors about 64% went to post secondary school. About 28% went to the workforce and 3% went to the military.
CIS has determined five basic needs all successful students have that many “at risk” students
miss out on. The five basic needs students have are: a healthy one-on-one relationship with an adult, a safe place, a healthy start and future, a marketable skill and a chance to show off that
skill. Now it’s their responsibility to act on the chance but as a society it is our responsibility to
give these students chances. There is a lot we can do to help these at risk students. CIS give
students counseling and other forms of encouragement and help. Perhaps with more support we can help these student avoid a dropout’s future.
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