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"Back to School"

By Edward DeJesus

It’s a phrase you’ve heard before, parents, educators, and politicians, and other adults tout it, with the intent of emphasizing continued education in order to get somewhere in life. They may mean well, but the reality is that millions of youth are not returning to school.

Where are all these kids? It’s a question that every adult in every community should be asking, yet less than a quarter of the general voting population even recognizes that the dropout rate is a major concern for today’s youth. Arguably the largest problem facing education today, but decidedly the most overlooked problem within the education system, the dropout rate isn’t remotely receiving the amount of attention it warrants. While lack of funding and parental involvement, along with a severe shortage of quality teachers are issues that need to be addressed, children actually have to be in school for those problems to be a factor. Concerns regarding the education system should be all encompassing and that is currently not the case. How can it be when over 80% of voters feel it’s not their problem?

The public decision makers have completely disassociated themselves from the problem of school dropouts because they feel it does not directly affect them—a cold and callus stance to take, not to mention an extremely inaccurate one. The epidemic of out of school youth reaches deep into the heart of every community in America, however those with blinders on prefer to compartmentalize the problem, assessing it to those youth afflicted by living in inner cities, subjected to bad parenting, or the overwhelming influence of hip-hop. Admittedly, there are a portion of youth whose situations may fit these categories and they suffer as a result of them, however every child does not fit the ready made blame molds that society would like to store them in so that they can ease their collective conscious.

It is estimated that 50% of African-American and Latino youth do not complete the twelfth grade, a percentage that is extremely staggering, and one that very few people actually know or seem to care about. What is even more disturbing is that today’s youth are leaving schools at an earlier and earlier age. It is reported that nearly half of all dropouts leave school by the tenth grade, and a shocking 20% throw in the towel by the 8th grade.

Dropout reasons today vary, with the majority of youth citing the following as factors that prompt them to exit the halls of a learning institution:

They don’t like school – Trivial as it may sound, young adults need a motivation that outweighs the frustration that is often felt when school doesn’t make sense to them. If there isn’t some sort of connection, something that validates the necessity of attending school, many youth see it as a waste of time with no real benefit.
Inability to get along with teachers or other students – Social skills are extremely vital in ensuring success in school but not only for students, for teachers as well. Teachers who assume that students need to adopt the cultural and values of the school without paying attention to valuing the culture and values of the youth can expect only a small degree of success. In these environments, students who feel disrespected, dismissed and devalued often elect to remove themselves from the situation that they find uncomfortable—thus one cut class becomes three, which becomes a day, until eventually going to school is not an option.
Failing grades or inability to keep up with course work – Poor grades with little to no explanation as to where they are making their mistakes serves as a discouraging factor for many youth. Without constant encouragement and avenues for support they adopt the attitude that since they aren’t doing well anyway, they may as well not be there.
Feeling unsafe – With violence rates among youth climbing, several youth opt to not even show up to their classes as opposed to being engaged in a physical confrontation.
Support of family – A trend that was often a necessity in the 50’s and 60’s seems to have reappeared in the millennium. Students often feel the pressure of budgetary constraints within their families and feel compelled to leave school in order to contribute. Additionally teen pregnancies account for this dropout factor.

Instead of addressing the problems head on, the political community has optioned for an easy way out. Instead of eliminating the real weapon of mass destruction – the lack of quality education, they build missiles. Instead of addressing the real threat to national security – the lack of opportunity, they build prisons. It always seems apparent that when government does not know how to deal with a problem, they run from a problem. For military intelligence must tell them that the United States cannot police the world while their own backyard is burning. The real world of our youth usually exceeds the imagination of most mainstream decision makers. What most decision makers call ghettos; young adults call home.

With the apparent lack of opportunities to continue their education, the question then becomes, where do they go? While only a few youth are at some point encouraged to return to the school system, millions more wind up pounding the pavement in either a job search or idle activity. Considering the immense difficulty in securing employment that exists for Americans with college degrees, suffice to say that youth who have less than a tenth grade education require some sort of assisted training program in order to survive. The existence of such programs however does not come close to supporting the demand for job training. With only 250,000 federally funded job training slots and even fewer state and privately funded programs, more youth are slipping through the proverbial cracks than any citizen should be comfortable with accepting. Still acceptance is exactly what occurs when actions to initiate and support programs that train dropouts do not take place. Ignorance is not bliss, and that statement applies to youth who have exited the school system as well as the adult citizens who do not take the time to become informed of the severity of this epidemic. Every non-high school graduate affects the conditions of every community in America—an attitude that must be adopted, spread, and acted upon. Businesses suffer because there are no qualified successors to make critical decisions. When businesses suffer, the economy suffers, because each folded business takes with it the opportunity for more jobs and revenue—and so the cycle continues. That being said, it is completely ludicrous to conclude that this problem falls solely and squarely on the shoulders of those who have children and those who are responsible for educating them. To the contrary, the concern belongs to every individual in every city. Ensuring the proper education and productivity of our youth ensures that our entire economic structure and way of life continues to evolve and grow in a manner that supports us all.

Though every effort must be made to encourage youth to remain in or return to school, the reality is that there will be millions who do not exercise either option. These individuals must not be overlooked or condemned to a life on the streets, which is the inevitable destination if citizens do not become informed or get involved. Involvement takes on many facets and can include some of the following methods:

Become vocal in your community – Organize members of your community. Recognize the issue and consider ideas to provide training to youth, possibly mentoring or other programs which will teach valuable job skills.
Use politics to challenge leadership – Voices with volume are seldom ignored. Create a forum that allows concerned citizens to address local community leaders. Present the problem and possible solutions, and then press for answers and results. Be persistent, change is not overnight and local government will often try to “wait out” the problem, hoping interest will diminish. Keeping the issues at the forefront forces action or embarrassment, and since no politician wants to be embarrassed, action is the only other recourse.
Enlist the help of local businesses – Talk to local business owners about the possibility of on the job training for youth, or ask them to support the efforts of a program that will provide training.
Become a mentor – Sharing your life experiences and the importance of education in all aspects of life can be the difference in whether a youth returns to school, or at least opts to strive for enhanced learning.

Ultimately, the future of our society lies in the success of our youth. By keeping this in mind, there is no possible way to sit idly and watch them deteriorate. Get involved and stay involved. If a mind truly is a terrible thing to waste, what are you waiting for?

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