Cause and Effect essay - Final

“Increasingly, it is being recognized that the issues of dropping out and dropout prevention cannot be separated from issues affecting our total economic and social structure. These issues include poverty, unemployment, discrimination, the role of the family, social values, the welfare cycle, child abuse, and drug abuse.”
-Peck, Law, and Mills 1987

The dictionary states that a drop out is a student who withdraws before completing a course of instruction. Throughout the years, the dropout rate has fluctuated, but often in a negative way. The goal for 2000 was to increase the graduation rate by 90 percent. It was reported in 1993 that there had been very little progress towards achieving that goal.
People drop out for many reasons. Poor academic achievement is an indicator that one may not feel it necessary to complete a course of instruction. It has been said that those who have repeated a grade are twice more likely to drop out than someone who had never failed or repeated a grade. Students who have had to repeat more than one grade were four times as likely to drop out before graduation.
Parents also play a role in how a student does in school. Whether a student attends high school successfully through graduation or not can often depend on their home life. Homes that are stressful make it harder to concentrate on school work. Parents who haven’t completed high school sometimes make the student feel like they can’t complete high school either. Single-parent households often make a student feel unsupported in their academic accomplishments, and a primary language other than English make the material harder to understand. All of these contribute to a student’s motivation to graduate.
Not completing a course of education is not the worst consequence of dropping out. Many long-term consequences follow. Employment opportunities are often limited, because the work force requires higher education, along with literacy, and enhanced technological skills. Engagement in premature sexual activity, early pregnancy, crime, drug and alcohol abuse, and suicide has also been reported higher among dropouts than graduates. Also, reliance on welfare or other social programs are more likely among dropouts. Dropouts receive $200,000 less than high school graduates, and over $800,000 less than college graduates throughout their lives. They also make up nearly half of the prison population.
There are many warning signs that one may drop out. Recent statistics have shown that students who live in larger cities are twice as likely to drop out before graduating. Also, more than one in four Hispanics drop out by eighth grade. Over half of all students who drop out have reported to leave by the tenth grade. 8% of dropouts have lived in a juvenile home or shelter. One-third have been suspended, or put on probation, and nearly 12% of dropouts run away from home.
Unfortunately, progress towards decreasing the dropout rate has not been successful, but new and different ways are being proposed all the time. It has been suggested that arranging for help with making up missing work, along with tutoring could help keep students in school. Helping with personal problems is another way to decrease the dropout rate. In a typical school, there is only one certified guidance counselor per every 500 students. Some schools report only having one in the entire building. If students have a reliable adult they can go to for help, whether school related or not, the dropout rate could decrease tremendously. Hiring more guidance counselors is a simple answer. Also, if students are made aware of the potential consequences of their decisions, such as deciding to become parents in high school, failing classes, or behaving badly before it gets to the point where they feel dropping out is the only answer, they could make amends and successfully complete school.
The United States will never have a perfect graduation rate, but progress towards decreasing the dropout rate is crucial towards achieving a more successful nation. From year to year, the dropout rate changes, but by showing parental and counselor involvement, along with making the consequences of dropping out obvious, students will hopefully realize how important education really is.

Cause and Effect Essay - Rough Draft

The dictionary states that a drop out is a student who withdraws before completing a course of instruction. The dropout rate has fluctuated throughout the years, often in a negative way. The goal for 2000 was to increase the graduation rate by 90 percent, but it was reported in 1993 that there had been little progress towards achieving that goal.
There are a lot of reasons why people drop out of high school. For example, poor academic achievement may make one feel it is not necessary to complete a course of instruction. It has been said that those who have repeated a grade are twice as likely to drop out than someone who has never failed a grade.
Parents also play a role in how a student does in school. Whether a student attends high school through graduation or not can often depend on their home life. Homes that are stressful make it harder to concentrate on school work. Single-parent households often make a student feel unsupported in their academic accomplishments, and a primary language other than English make the material harder to understand. All of these contribute to a student’s motivation to graduate.
There are many consequences of dropping out. Not completing a course of education is not the worst consequence. Employment opportunities are often limited, because the work force requires higher education and enhanced technological skills. Engagement in premature sexual activity, early pregnancy, crime, drug and alcohol abuse, and suicide has also been reported higher among dropouts than graduates. Also, reliance on welfare or other social programs are more likely among dropouts. Dropouts also make up nearly half of the prison population.
Unfortunately, progress towards decreasing the dropout rate has not been successful, but new and different ways are being brought up all the time. It has been suggested that arranging for help with making up missing work, along with tutoring could help keep students in school. Helping with personal problems is another way to decrease the dropout rate. In a typical school, there is only one certified guidance counselor per every 500 students. Some schools report only having one in the entire building. If students have a reliable adult they can go to for help, whether school related or not, the dropout rate could decrease tremendously. Also, if students are made aware of the potential consequences of their decisions, such as deciding to become parents in high school, failing classes, or behaving badly before it gets to the point where they feel dropping out is the only answer, they could change what they have been doing wrong and complete school.
The United States will never have a perfect graduation rate, but progress towards decreasing the dropout rate is crucial towards achieving a more successful nation. From year to year, the dropout rate changes, but by showing parental and counselor involvement, along with making the consequences of dropping out obvious, students will hopefully realize how important education really is.

Cause and Effect Essay - Thesis Statement

“Increasingly, it is being recognized that the issues of dropping out and dropout prevention cannot be separated from issues affecting our total economic and social structure. These issues include poverty, unemployment, discrimination, the role of the family, social values, the welfare cycle, child abuse, and drug abuse.”
-Peck, Law, and Mills 1987

Cause and Effect Essay - Citations

1) Rachlin, Jill, and Joseph P. Shapiro. "No pass, no drive: to keep kids in school, some states are turning to threats." U.S. News & World Report 106.n22 (June 5, 1989): 49(3). Professional Collection. Gale. Marshall Sr. High Library. 12 May 2008 .

2) Thacker, Tony, Franklin P. Schargel, and John S. Bell. "Youth Who Drop Out." Focus Adolescent Services. Mar. 2008. 12 May 2008 .

3) Thomas, Pierre, and Jack Date. "Students Dropping Out of High School Reaches Epidemic Levels." ABC News. 20 Nov. 2007. 12 May 2008 .

Excellence Essay

"Excellence is in the details. Pay attention to the details and excellence will come." - A phrase I had heard for four years in a row, multiple times a week. At first, I just interpreted it as yet another one of Mr. Przymus's pep-talks to encourage us to practice our drums. Like always, his words went in ear and out the other. That is, until my senior year. It took me almost three years of hearing this phrase to actually appreciate its value and true importance.
I had been a member of the Marshall Drumline since my freshman year of high school. Practices were full of drumming, excessive amounts of talking, noise, pep-talks and motivation. It was almost inevitable that during a long and frustrating practice, Mr. Przymus would belt out through the noise, “Guys, guys, calm down. Don’t forget, ‘Excellence is in the details. Pay attention to the details and excellence will come.’ Excellence doesn’t come over night. We have time!”
My senior year, I arrived at the first practice of the season. I was feeling pretty confident that our practice would be a great one and we would be right on track to another successful season. However, my mind was quickly changed. Having a section of six people, four of which were rookies, was about to give me the challenge of a lifetime. Within the first ten minutes of the practice, it became apparent that this was not excellence. Nor would it be excellent tomorrow. Or the next day. Or even the day after that. In fact, excellence seemed light years away.
I wanted nothing more than to quit and pretend drumline didn’t even exist. But instead, I reevaluated what I as a section leader had to do to make my section excellent. Another motivational speech wouldn’t do it, nor would getting frustrated and yelling at the rookies. Instead, I thought back to what encouraged me to excel at drumming. And sure enough, those words that came from Mr. Przymus’s mouth came to mind right away.
At our next practice, nothing was going right. Our timing was off, we were getting irritable, and the music didn’t sound the way it was supposed to. Knowing just what to say to fix this problem, I took my drum off and told the rest of my section to do the same. I sat them down, and I harped the words that I had heard from Mr. Przymus for four consecutive years. “Guys, we can’t expect to be great now. That’s why we start practicing in May when we don’t even compete until September. We have to take things piece by piece and take it one day at a time. ‘Excellence is in the details. Pay attention to the details and excellence will come.’ We may not sound excellent right now, but we will. All in good time.”
Surely enough, by the end of the season, our drum scores were higher than any of the previous years. We sounded excellent! It went beyond that, though; we learned how to achieve excellence – through hard work, persistency, determination, and maybe a cheesy motivational speech once in awhile.

Education Essay

What is education? The dictionary defines education as “the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.” To put it simply, education is learning.
People often associate education with school. However, one does not have to be lectured in a classroom or read an assignment from a book to learn something. We learn new things everyday in school, but also outside of school, that increases our education.
Whether you are making a mistake, traveling to a foreign country, or learning to drive a car, education is present. We are constantly, both intentionally and unintentionally, learning new things that will help us in our lives at one time or another.
This point proved to be true in Loren Eiseley’s essay, “The Hidden Teacher.” Eiseley stated, “. . . We think we learn from teachers, and we sometimes do. But the teachers are not always to be found in school or in great laboratories. Sometimes what we learn depends upon our own powers of insight.” She then tells about a spider in its web. She could tell how intelligent the spider was by how it reacted when she changed its physical environment. The essay pointed out the importance of viewing things from a different perspective and how critical that is to education.
Another important aspect of education was pointed out in Malcolm X and Alex Haley’s essay, “How I Discovered Words: A Homemade Education.” The main character in the essay became envious of Bimbi, who was very articulate and intelligent. So the man decided to get hold of a dictionary and teach himself how to read.
In the article, “Two Ways of Seeing the River,” it was made apparent that not everyone learns the same way. Everyone sees things differently. Even though you may be sitting in the same classroom with someone, you could learn something faster or slower, or you may see something totally different than how your classmates do.
While watching “The Dead Poets Society,” the school and all the teachers told the students that education was the most important thing in life. School came first, and then life. One of the characters, Neil, had a passion for acting. However, his father would not let him pursue acting because he though that Neil should spend his time doing school work. Although the teachers were very strict, one English teacher told his students, “Don’t consider what the other thinks, but consider what you think”. This implies that we don’t need the books and authors to teach us, but that we need to educate ourselves. We need to think for ourselves.
After reading the essays and articles, and watching “The Dead Poets Society,” I really had to reevaluate what I thought education meant. Education is more than going to school and hearing your teachers preach to you. Education is experiencing something new. Education is looking at something from a new perspective. Education is learning.


Works Cited:
1) Twain, Mark. "Two Ways of Seeing the River." Seeing Nature: 282-283.
2) Eiseley, Loren. "The Hidden Teacher." Seeing Metaphors: 167-169.
3) X, Malcolm, with Haley, Alex. "How I Discovered Words: a Homemade Education." How I Discovered Words: a Homemade Education: 187-189.
4) The Dead Poets Society. Director Peter Weir. Performers Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, and Ethan Hawke. DVD. Touchstone Pictures, 1989.

Timed Writing - Cause and Effect Essay

Eating disorders occur more commonly than you may think. Why? Because stick-thin women or buff men are portrayed constantly in the media. Teens are not the only ones who are affected by these images; eating disorders are happening more and more in 11 and 12 year olds as well, possibly because of the certain television shows that they watch. It seems almost impossible to turn on the television or browse the internet without seeing advertisements, commercials, or pop-ups boxes that talk about losing weight. Teens are being exposed to these body images that actually may not be healthy, and they feel the need to look like the people in the movies and magazines. To do so, teens often turn to eating disorders. Some eating disorders include anorexia, bulimia, and purging. Anorexia is the refusal to eat on a regular basis. Some people with anorexia will go days upon days without eating hardly anything. Bulimia is when one eats, and immediately forces themself to throw up so that they do not gain any weight. Purging is a combination of anorexia and bulimia. A person will go days without eating, and then eat an excessive amount. After "stuffing their faces", they will force themself to throw up. What many people do not know about eating disorders is that they really aren't an effective way to lose weight. By depriving yourself of proper nutrients, your metabolism slows down so that when you DO eat something, your body saves all of calories and carbs since it doesn't know when it will be fed again. In turn, you will actually GAIN weight from anorexia. With bulimia, even if you make yourself throw up right after you ingest food, not all of the food will be regurgitated. Some of the nutrients and fat and calories will be absorbed into your blood, or will have already gotten down into your stomache. Eating disorders may seem like the easy, quick way to lose weight, but in the long run, it causes more severe problems than a few extra pounds.