Preventing students from dropping out of school may not be such a worthwhile goal. While the goal of keeping students in school is certainly a worthwhile aim, the method by which experts and legislators have attempted to fix the dropout situation is a flawed proposition. To combat the nation’s “Silent Epidemic,”[1] experts are trying to convince state legislators to pass laws that will raise the minimum age for mandatory schooling, forcing students to remain in school until they are 18 years old. It is a dangerous proposal, one that could undermine school and student alike.
To understand why forced schooling will not work, one must fully understand why students are leaving. According to a recent study by research firm Civic Enterprises, as many students drop out for not being challenged enough as those who quit because of lack of academic dedication.[2] In addition, researchers found that dropouts felt “too much freedom” in their school experience, a key factor according to 38% of dropouts surveyed.[3] High school students on the brink of dropping out are not always the teen moms, drug dealers, or neglected children society makes them out to be. They are sometimes the average or above-average students who have learned that school is purely about future monetary success.
Something students do believe is that more education will help them earn more money in the future. The statistics are clear: dropouts earn less than graduates.[4] Experts such as those at Civic Enterprises boast that one solution to the multi-faceted problem is to raise the minimum age for mandatory school attendance from 16 in most states to 17 or 18. Two additional years of mandatory schooling, according to experts, would allow more time for teachers to reach out to struggling students, but moreover, would help the students obtain the all-important diploma that will suit them better financially in the future.
This is a faulty conclusion. Forcing students to remain in school against their will en route to securing a diploma merely for the sake of the title cheapens school. If state legislators passed minimum age laws to ensure that every child is required to graduate, the value of a high school diploma will suffer. If schools force-feed students diplomas, they becomes valueless. School becomes a mere factory where students clock-in upon entrance, do their work, and then clock-out upon dismissal for thirteen years until they receive a piece of paper qualifying them as an “educated” person, when in reality, they have learned nothing more than to hate learning.
The way to prevent students from dropping out of school is not legislative, but philosophical. Teachers must teach students early, often, and throughout their school careers the importance of education in regards to the development of the person, which includes aspects of life that are more than economic such as character. What the student needs is a purpose for education, not laws or authorities telling him that he must become educated because that is what everybody else does. If done under the philosophy of education centered on the development of the person, it will make him a greater, more valuable member of society able to adapt and interact effectively with all aspects of life. The purpose of education is not to graduate, but to educate. Substituting false achievement in the form of spoon-fed diplomas does not develop the student in the least.
A majority of teachers in schools today teach students that education is a means of gaining material things out of life. However, if the student realizes that he can gain something greater without the assistance of school, it will become useless to him. Students must see a purpose in school.
There is yet hope for those who think of dropping out, or already have; a sense of purpose installed in the correct area in their life will infuse the student to learn. Schools and communities must reach out and help those students in need of attention. Teachers must challenge the gifted – and all others even more – so that they might see the value of education as a betterment of the person, not merely the improvement of their résumé.
Man cannot legislate achievement. Forcing kids to attend school will fix the dropout problem, but it will not ensure that students are getting a purposeful education.
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1 comment:
Good post.
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