Young Women Are More Likely to Drop Out of High School

Teens boy and girls are placed in a position where they have to take responsibilities for a lot of their own actions. This could be caused by the lack of a parental figure in the person’s life. When there isn’t any attention given towards them, there’s no other way than to have another person fill in the spot. On top of working or dealing with pregnancy, teens are also given another huge level of stress everyday due to the amount of work given to them in school. Usually, when a person is stressed, the best thing for their mind is some type of comfort or support. Who wouldn’t want to hear some kind words? In America, a proper education is the main ingredient to succeeding. However, because of the lack of moral support provided for teenagers, or high school students, many follow each other’s footsteps by dropping out of school.

Consider the story of Kenny Buchanan, who dropped out of high school in Schuylkill County, PA. After twenty six years, Kenny realized that maybe his decision of dropping out was a bad idea due to the fall of the economy. This basically meaning that people that most jobs require a high school diploma, etc. Now, Kenny is struggling to find a job, because he does not have a high school diploma. According to an interview from npr.org, Kenny talks about his decision to drop out by stating, “[In] ninth grade, I dropped out of school. I was 18. I flunked twice, I had no interest, and I told my mom 'cause I was living at home at the time, I said, 'I'm done, I'm not going back to school,'" he says.” This shows a perfect example of lack of support. Kenny failed twice and finally spoke out about dropping out of school. Instead of his mother convincing him to stay in school, she apparently agreed to it, showing the lack of support from his parents. What Kenny really needed was some motivation or support from his mother to keep him going despite the amount of times he failed. Although there isn’t a stated reason as to why he failed twice, one thing that could be said is that he wasn’t getting the help and attention that he needed.

Teen pregnancy is a huge crisis in the United States. It is the top country in the world with the highest teen pregnancy rate. According to teenpregnancystatistics.org, “The drop out rates among pregnant teens is 90 percent across the United States.” This shows that more than fifty percent of the students that drop out are female. This is a huge percentage that could possibly show how females are the ones that lack the most support and attention needed.

Consider the story about a teen mom who made the difficult decision to drop out of school. Katie Vance is a teen mom from Charleston, West Virginia and she said, "Once my baby was born, I didn't really have much help with her. My parents were divorced, and my dad was always working. I tried a day care center, but there were issues with them. The father of the baby was still here, but he also worked. I just felt hopeless. I decided I was going to drop out and get my GED, which I did.” This shows that Katie’s decision was influenced by the lack of help and support from a trusted person. Katie was too busy worrying about too many things at once alone that she was not emotionally stabled. She did not talk about her mother, meaning that her mother was not there physically and mentally. Katie may not have been close with her mother and that is the parental presence that she may have needed in order to feel more hopeful since her father and the baby’s dad were both working.

When asked, high school teens might say that they are able to be successful without finishing school. But on closer inspection, it is hard for them to even find jobs because most jobs require a high school diploma. Teens need to be able to feel supported and motivated and if they’re not getting that type of attention, then they don’t feel the need to stay in school and finish because most teens will feel that they don’t have the potential to finish.

Works Cited:

"Drop Out Rates Among Pregnant Teens." Teen Pregnancy Statistics. Teen Pregnancy Statistics, 13 Oct. 2015. Web. 13 Oct. 2015. <http://www.teenpregnancystatistics.org/content/drop-out-rates-among-pregnant-teens.html>.

"Making a Difficult Choice: High School Drop Out Tells Her Story."Charleston Gazette-Mail. Charleston Gazette-Mail, 10 Jan. 2014. Web. 9 Nov. 2015.

<http://www.wvgazettemail.com/News/201401100105>

Sanchez, Claudio. "A High School Dropout's Midlife Hardships." School's Out: America's Dropout Crisis. Npr, 28 July 2011. Web. 13 Oct. 2015. <http://www.npr.org/2011/07/28/138741367/a-high-school-dropouts-mid-life-hardships>.