Do Students Choose Failure?

I find it a little unsettling that Steinmetz High School, or any high school that shares these statistics, has reported staggering drop out rates especially among Latino students, and students with disabilities. The latter being a segment of the student population that is entitled to receive the highest intervention rate. Students with disabilities are those who have been made eligible to receive special services, and whose education is suppose to be governed by the goals and objectives written into his or her Individual Education Plan (IEP). So, why are so many students dropping out of high school?

In a report that was released in 2006 entitled, The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts, "highlighted the fact that almost one-third of all public high school students - and nearly 50 percent of minorities - fail to graduate with their class". The report indicated that the principal cause was not academic failure. About 70% of the students reported that "they did not see the real-world applications of their schoolwork, and that nearly half felt bored by their classes".

Another report also released in 2006 entitled, America's Civic Health Index, indicated that "high school dropouts are no longer even a part of the civil society that would enable them to be effective advocates in their communities". This civic category goes from "volunteering and work on community projects to attending meetings and voting". These students are suffering from a "lack of learning and a lack of service". As I conduct my research on this very important issue of high school drop out rates, I hope to find some of the answers as to why student drop out rates are so high.