Factors Of Dropping Out Of School

Introduction
“I’m dropping out.” The definite sentence that a student says when they have decided that they do not want to complete school. Nationwide, many students, for various reasons, decide to drop out of high school and choose not to pursue a diploma or GED. The song War by King Los is an example of the realities youth face today.
F*** a school, and the teacher too, they no teach the truth. What 's a pops, never had a pop… Man f*** we got, f*** we really got, but this gutter s***… I be stressed, I be h**** stressed, smoke a bunch of weed… Guns, that 's a way of life, get money not God… We gon ' get this loot or starve?... F*** your right or wrong, the s*** that I been on is do or die, If I do I die, if I don 't I die that 's suicide,

According to Hynes (2014), there are at least twenty-five different factors that can cause one to drop out of school. These twenty-five factors can be categorized into two major groups: student relationships and environments. Multiple studies show that majority of time, students drop out of school not because they have bad behavior, but because they have multiple life challenges that pushes them to not finish school. These problems are overlooked and deemed unworthy to pay attention to. Neglecting to mediate and help abate these issues only adds to the student’s sense of hopelessness to finish school. Hynes’s (2014) surveyed multiple students across sixteen different communities and majority of the students mentioned gangs leading them to no to go to school. The gangs showed “love” to the students and taught them how to make money without an education. With all the “love and support” from gangs, they felt as though that school was not needed and decided to drop out. Some feel as though that they were alone and were “trying, trying, and trying” until they reached a “breaking point” (Hynes & America’s Promise Alliance, 2014). It seems apparent through the students’ stories that they do have goal for their lives and they want to succeed, but the pressures of the world and the places where they live seems to overpower the importance of getting an education. Parents were either absent in

Multiple studies show us that when parents are involved with student learning, they are more likely to have higher grades, test scores, pass classes, be more socially develop, graduate high school and attend college (Balfanz, et al., 2010). Even some dropouts concede that if they would have had some type of parental involvement, they would have likely finished school (Hynes, 2014). Yet in areas with high poverty rates, schools tend to have a lower rate of parental involvement. Though the student is mature enough to notice what supports they need, the student is often neglected and is left crying in the wind, going unheard. Parental involvement can be a turning point in students’ lives and without it, students are less motivated to complete high school. Parents often miss the warning signs of students that are close to dropping out of school. In eighth grade, students becoming disengaged, absent more than twenty percent of the school day and failing English and Math. It has been estimated that by eighth grade, 64.5% of students are less than proficient in math and reading (Balfanz et al., 2014). In ninth grade, warning signs include having poor attendance and not being able to proceed to the next grade on time because of not having the appropriate amount of credits to complete the grade (Furger, 2008). If parents do not keep a watchful eye on their youth, they can fall