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.