Why are high school students dropping out?
Canyon Ridge High School
December 14, 2022
There is about a five percent chance of the average high schooler dropping out during their high school career.
There are many different reasons why high school dropouts are choosing to leave school early. Some may find school as a waste of time and would rather be doing their own schooling.
High school dropout, Adam Beggs, was hesitant about dropping out, “I didn’t know if it was truly what I wanted to do at the moment.” However, he still went through with it.
“I’m still glad about dropping out due to all the classes I didn’t care about getting removed out of my day,” said Beggs.
Begg’s plan for later in life is to “Get my GED and go into a trade school.”
Others had no choice but to drop out of school due to them having other responsibilities.
“I had two babies that needed me. So I [needed] to be an adult and get a job to support them,” said High school dropout Maricela Valdez. When asked whether or not she regretted dropping out, she replied “I had two kids I [needed] to work for to support, I didn’t have time to regret anything”
Some just drop out due to school being a stressor in their life, “I don’t have to worry about grades or the other [stresses] that school causes,” said Lainee Espindola.
Some believe that school should be your top priority, saying while there are some exceptions, school should be above all else.
“They [students] are selling themselves short without getting the full experience of a high school diploma,” said Canyon Ridge High School Vice Principal, Scott Thompson.
Mr Thompson then explained his views on dropping out early to join the workforce saying, “What job out there says ‘I want a 16-year-old to work for me right now?’”
Canyon Ridge’s new Dropout Prevention Specialist, Coach James Poole, believes that dropping out should be a student’s last resort. “That’s kinda my main reason I like to [help students] … I wanna be able to take the kids who hate school and find a niche for them to make ‘em look forward to something.”
“Find a purpose…and a lot of that just starts with knowing what you like,” said Poole when explaining what he would want to tell students that are considering dropping out, “First search every way possible for something you like doing cause there’s something for everybody, there truly is.”
Mason Hill • May 24, 2023 at 9:18 am
Most people may think that they have more important responsibilities that they have to attend to. But the majority of these students’ responsibilities aren’t as important as their education. The ones that drop out are making a mistake because they are limiting their chances of finding a financially stable occupation later in their life. I agree that dropping out should be a last resort. However, I disagree that it should be an option if you need a day off to take care of responsibilities then talk to the staff and tell them what’s going on.