Future dismal for high school dropouts

If by now, youngsters haven't gotten the message to stay in school, new census data should be persuasive. The median annual income for a high school dropout is all of $12,478. Get a high school diploma, and expect $20,889. Stay in school through college, and that median income almost doubles. As manufacturing jobs are eliminated -- just Thursday, Delphi Automotive announced it would cut its work force by 11,500 -- the opportunities for those who have forsaken long-term goals for short-term gains have diminished markedly. Even the military isn't interested in recruits who lack a diploma or GED certificate. A life in poverty should not be the highest aspiration for a bewildered 16-year-old.
Poor choices: Whatever the reasons teen-agers choose -- and it is a choice -- to leave school before completing their educations, their situation will only be made worse by their decision.
Some young men and women look forward to being on their own, and see employment rather than school as a desirable option. But a minimum-wage part-time job for a high school senior living at home is temporary. But when that minimum-wage part-time job becomes a minimum-wage full-time job for a young person out on his or her own, the paycheck will barely cover life's necessities, let alone splurges like a new television set or a nice dinner out. The limits imposed by one's own poverty are a poor replacement for the limits imposed by one's parents.
For other young people, the burden of helping to support their families can make school work a much lower priority than it should be -- especially when employers insist teens work unreasonable hours. And when their grades suffer, dropping out appears to be the only option. But students who stay in school can contribute so much more to their families' well-being -- not only financially but emotionally and socially as well.
Aside from financial considerations, most teens who drop out of school are having learning problems. When proficiency tests show the limited basic skills of too many youngsters who are still promoted to grades for which they are unprepared, it's no wonder they think they can't make it in school.
What 15-year-old boy wants to spend all day in classes with textbooks he cannot understand or with math problems he cannot solve? And if English is that student's second language, the problems are even worse. Thus, educational intervention must be started as soon a child is found falling behind. It is too late to wait until high school, the effects of continuing failure have already taken their toll.
A young person who drops out of school is unlikely to comprehend the magnitude of that decision. But dropouts are a burden on society: whether they're young men hanging around street corners because they have nothing better to do, young mothers who cannot read well enough to take good care of their own children or adults who cannot decent jobs to support their families.
It is in the community's interest to keep young people in school.