Finish High School

Twenty-five Reasons to Finish High School
Also Ten Reasons Students Drop Out of High School

The massive number of dropouts in the U.S. is causing a national crisis – and why would you want to contribute to that problem? But if you’re losing interest in school, here are 25 reasons to finish.

You don’t want to become a stat, with nearly 6.2 million students dropping out of high school in past few school years.

You could avoid poverty, as those without a high school diploma earn about $400,000 less in a lifetime than those who graduate.

You won’t put the country further into debt. Each class of high school dropouts costs the U.S. more than $200 billion in lost wages and tax revenues, plus social support needs.

You don’t want to be a quitter. Annually, about 1 million students, or 30 percent, drop out before graduation.

You’ll reach a major personal accomplishment – and will have a diploma to show off.

You’ll do your parents proud.

You’re in school when it’s trendy, with the popularity of TV shows like “Glee” and “90210” and films like “High School Musical.”

You put yourself on the path to a fun next step – college.

You can beat the odds, as nearly one in five U.S. men between the ages of 16 and 24 were dropouts over the past few years, nearly three of 10 Latinos were dropouts and more than one in five blacks dropped out of school in over the past few years.

You will be able to apply for more jobs.

You can avoid the pressure of having to study for the GED after you’ve been away from the books, and even having to pay to take that exam.

You won’t have to battle the negative perception that dropouts face.

You might not have to do the time, with stats showing that the majority of inmates at state and federal prisons didn’t complete high school.

You could lose out on the chance to be prom king or queen.

You will have more Facebook friends.

Your lack of a diploma will equal fewer opportunities, as labor force participation rates were the lowest for those with less than a high school diploma.

You might miss out fulfilling an athletic dream, such as winning that district or state championship, or even getting a scholarship to play your sport in college.

You won’t be wasting the school tax money your parents are paying.

Your future kids won’t be able to say, “Well, you did it,” if they don’t want to finish high school.

You can use what you’re learning about wars in history or other classes such as math to beat your friends at Xbox or PlayStation 3 games.

You need a place to show off your new clothes.

You could find a lifelong mentor in a teacher or school counselor.

You won’t be able to participate in fun senior activities like graduation trips, senior nights and even the senior prank.

You could keep from having regrets later in life.

You just might like staying in school.

Ten Reasons Students Drop Out of High School

1. Lack of interest

It is usually found that every class of students has some of those pupils who refuse to show any attention to the subjects being taught. Their lack of interest is caused by their lack of attention in whatever is being taught. It is not that such students do not try.

They do try as and when they are forced and pressurized to. But, we very well know harsh persuasive techniques do not last long, they give in after a while. It is then that these students prefer going the other way. They prefer dropping out of their school because once and for all they decide that whatever is being taught there barely intrigues them. Thus they decide to suit themselves.

2. Delinquency

This is a harsh truth of life. The big bad world out there has several things to offer undoubtedly. Children in their teens, as school students are not well aware of the various facets of the world. They get fascinated by the fancy things that life seems to offer. But every short-cut taken to acquire all those fanciful things is a step ahead towards delinquency.

Sometimes willingly and sometimes unknowingly they get caught in its web. Once caught, it becomes impossible to get out of it. Be it petty thefts, buying and selling of porn videos, helping in unethical crimes, it is a host of evil that they get trapped in. School becomes long forgotten after taking up such pursuits.

3. Supporting family

It is unfortunate that students have to give up their education in the face of economic reasons. The inability to pay the school fee can be one such reason. Several demanding situations can surface where adolescent children of the family are asked or looked upon as a helping hand to the family.

Here, these children are often emotionally led into abandoning their academic life and focus their attention to the family crisis. It is also somewhere because of the notion that more the number of helping hands in a family, the better it is.

4. Working in family shops

Children sometimes don’t see the point of continuing with their studies while they have the option of working in their family business. They find working in shops run by family members as more useful and benefit in comparison to six to seven hours of schooling.

It becomes their perfect reason to let go of schooling. A part of their decision is often also fueled by their family members. This can be avoided by not allowing kids at all to go for such options.

5. Constant failure

Some students fail repeatedly, be it in class tests or semester examinations. The constant failure causes the lack of self confidence in them. As and when the failure persists, the lack of self-confidence vanishes. In its space emerges a feeling of being least bothered which is more fatal as compared to the former. Once the person starts to feel disinterested in the consequences any more, then she or he goes for what they feel is the best.

They no longer find any logic behind succumbing to the rules and regulations, thereby following what is desired of them. In the face of repeated failures, they give up school education.

6. Severe bullying

Kids are not able to communicate their feelings well. And same goes for the adolescents as well. They might be facing extreme humiliation at school and would still not discuss about it. The fear of being judged and laughed at holds them back from coming in the light. They start making excuses from going to school.

It is here that parents need to step in and take full action. It is necessary that such cases are investigated thoroughly. The disheartening part is that in some cases the child who is the victim is bullied to such an extent that he prefers dropping out of the school. The parents often end up being baffled in such situations not being able to get to the core of the entire situation.

7. Need to support an ailing family member

Not much can be done in such situations for these are sheer tragic moments in life. Tragedies like these have the full potential to destroy the life of the person who is to face it single handedly. More so is the case if the sufferer is a school going child.

It is normal for kids to take a little leave to take care of their ailing parent or grandparent who is alone at home without any help. But in some cases that leave escalates into a several weeks and goes on to become months. Before it is realized the one week leave becomes a semester. There is no going back then.

8. Grabbing hold of other opportunities

Given the large number of advertising and modeling opportunities for the youngsters, it becomes one of the greatest reasons for them to drop out of schools. The teens from schools go for auditions. It is as if they simply wait for the perfect opportunity to come along and take them away from the hassles of attending school.

The chance to enter showbiz becomes so mesmerizing and tantalizing for them that everything else in front of it loses its significance. School life is long forgotten by then and the only idea that circulates in their mind is to grab hold of the next auditioning chance that comes up.

9. Too much academic pressure

The generation today is not very well equipped in combating stressful situations. They resort to alcoholism or substance abuse of any sort to overcome the feeling of excessive anxiety. However not all come down to the level of substance abuse.

Students of this sort are not left with many choices to overcome their tension and fear of failing their parents when it comes to their academic performance. Sometimes the pressure escalates to such heights, that the student loses her/his ability to think rationally. She or he becomes more and more vulnerable to panic attacks as a result of being unable to face moments like sitting in an examination hall or while waiting for the results.

They break down. Terribly. It is this inability to deal with the debilitating anxiety that they drop out of schools.

10. Unable to fit in

Not everyone is able to fit in, in different atmospheres. Some students adapt themselves pretty easily irrespective of the number of schools they change. On the other hand there are some students who won’t be able to cope up even with a single change of school.

Their failure at making friends and establishing a good rapport with the teachers makes them feel more like an outsider. Soon, they are bound to give up.