High School Dropout Rate Is A Significant Indicator Of...

Introduction: High school dropout rate is a significant indicator of future success in life. For high school dropouts, it is harder to find jobs and earn as much money as their graduated peers. On the outside looking in, not being able to graduate is usually associated with school performance, socioeconomic status, parents’ education level and/or lack of motivation. Moreover, there are also underlying factors of race and gender and they both affect performance in high school immensely. In order to study dropout rates, focus should be put on the group of students at risk of dropping out. In terms of high school dropout rate, Oakland Technical High School has distinct differences between different races and sexes. Hispanics have lower†¦show more content†¦Literature Review: Sociologists and psychologists have studied and documented high school dropout rate for many decades. Their focus has been put on statistics of different races/ethnicities, age groups and gender as well as underlying factors of why people drop out. Comparing the dropout statistics of different races is a common theme amongst many sociologists’ studies. The extent of their research addresses many significant aspects of high school drop out but fail to shed light on the differences within races between the two genders. In the scholarly paper â€Å"Dropping Out of High School: The Influence of Race, Sex, and Family Background† by Russell W. Rumberger, he analyzes the underlying issues behind why students drop out. There is significance behind studying dropout rate, as students t hat drop out are usually less able than students who graduate high school. Dropouts are more likely to engage in crime, use drugs and/or alcohol, and have earlier marriages. He addresses several issues as to why students drop out as well as differences between why females and males drop out. (Rumberger) Females are more likely to drop out due to marriage and pregnancy while males are more likely to drop out because they do not like school. (Rumberger) This shows immense inequality between the two sexes as men can simply drop out of school because they want to while