Consequences of our Nation’s Low Graduation Rates

The decision to drop out is a dangerous one for the student, particularly in a post=Industrial and technological age in which workers need at least a high school diploma to compete in the workforce. Dropouts are much more likely than their peers who graduate to be unemployed, living in poverty, receiving public assistance, in prison, on death row, unhealthy, divorced, and ultimately single parents with children who drop out from high school themselves. High school dropouts, on average, earn $9,200 less per year than high school graduates, and about $1 million less over a lifetime than col¬lege graduates.13 Students who drop out of high school are often unable to suppor t themselves; high school dropouts were over three times more likely than college graduates to be unemployed in 2004.14 They are twice as likely as high school graduates to slip into poverty from one year to the next.15 And there even seems to be a correlation with education and good health: at ever y age range, the more education, the healthier the indi¬vidual. Among Americans over 45, college High school dropouts, on average, earn $9,200 less per year than high school graduates, and about $1 million less over a lifetime than college graduates. Students who drop out of high school are often unable to support themselves; high school dropouts were over three times more likely than college graduates to be unemployed in 2004. They are twice as likely as high school graduates to slip into poverty from one year to the next. graduates are twice as likely as dropouts to report being in excellent or ver y good health. The prevalence of high dropout rates not only imperils individual futures but also profoundly impacts our communities and nation due to the loss of productive workers, the earnings and revenues they would have generated, and the higher costs associated with increased incarceration, health care and social services. Four out of ever y 10 young adults (ages 16 – 24) lacking a high school diploma received some type of govern¬ment assistance in 2001, and a dropout is more than eight times as likely to be in jail or prison as a person with at least a high school diploma. Studies show that the lifetime cost to the nation for each youth who drops out of school and later moves into a life of crime and drugs ranges from $1.7 to $2.3 million. Given the clear costs to them and to the country, why do young people drop out of high school in such large numbers? Almost every elementary and middle school student reports ambitions that include high school graduation and at least some college. A poll released by MTV and the National Governors Association in the Spring of 2005 found that 87 percent of all young people want to go onto college. And yet, young people continue to drop out of high school in stunningly large numbers. This report seeks to answer the question of why so many dreams are cut short, and to foster a national conversation about what might be done about it.

 

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