Byron Castellon

Eng. 113 B
Professor Spitler-Lawson
1 March 2016
Project Web Final Essay
Word Count: 1263
Graduating High School With No Knowledge
It seems that when things are going great, something has to come and interfere with it. These
are known as road bumps, they can happen in many ways: lasting days, months, years, and so on.
Education is indeed the key to success in life, especially due to the excessive demand for it by
jobs in the U.S. The graduation and dropout rate is a delicate topic that many people don't pay
too much attention to. This can certainly be due to the lack of communication between the school
districts and the parents. It's important that this type of information should be brought up as a
constant reminder to the public because education is that answer to a productive future. The U.S
graduation rate isn't reaching it's full potential because of the lack of motivation the students
have. Today the graduation rate has increased in the U.S, but there are claims of youth
unemployment, unpreparedness for college, and gaps between states on the failure to meet the
average nation rate.

Youth unemployment has been a constant problem in U.S. The ideal age that is categorized
under "youth unemployment" ranges from 16-24 year olds. The article, "Why youth
unemployment is still a huge problem", by Mike Cassidy of the Fiscal Times talks about how
studies show that the youth unemployment rate is tripled as compared to the adult unemployment
rate. To elaborate, the youth tend to fail at reaching the job requirements, including the work

experience and education background. Job opportunities in general will become more
competitive at the years of 2018-2020, because 60% of jobs will require at least a college degree,
as the article, "By 2018, 60 percent of job openings will require college education"(Las Vegas
Review Journal) states. It pointed out that those with a college degree will get a job before those
with just a high school diploma. In fact, the youth unemployment rate can continue to grow as
2018 approaches. As well there is a lack of educational knowledge high school students are
experiencing after graduating high school.

Heading into college, students are claiming that they feel unprepared. In a survey that was
conducted by Achieve, it estimated that 50% of recent high school graduates report gaps in
preparation for life after high school. The two main areas they feel they lacked on receiving a
better understanding after high school in jobs and the education in college. The graduation rate
has came to reach a high of 80%. It's safe to assume that the high school requirements and
classes have became easier in some sense. As stated in the article, "Study says standardized
testing is overwhelming nation's public schools", by Lyndsey Layton, "A typical student takes
112 mandated standardized tests between pre-kindergarten classes and 12th grade". Standardized
testing was the main focus enforced when the No Child Left Behind Act was introduced by
Bush. High school students are forced to focus on the "SAT" and "ACT" to attend a University.
Shockingly, 1 in 5 high school students aren't graduating; 718,00 students dropping out of high
school annually, shown by the article: "Are new policies needed to keep more teens in school",
by Robert Kienere. There is still work to be done to fill in that gap. Robert explains that fixing
this problem can require high financial expenses. Those expenses go to school programs, online
programs, teachers and school materials. It's difficult for the United States to invest money on
education because the U.S government is in dept of 18 trillion dollars. There are states that have

came close to or have reached the average graduation rate, as well there are those states who are
ranked at the bottom of that list holding some of the worst graduation percentages.

Although the graduation rate seems to be progressing positively, there is still a gap between
states failing to reach the main goal. The four states that seem to always be at the bottom of the
list are: Nevada, Oregon, New Mexico and Alaska. Nevada had a low of 63% of graduates in
2012. Ranking them the lowest in the nation, as Paul Takahashi stated in his article "Nevada's
graduation rate is the worst in the nation". The fact that states like Nevada have constantly been
failing to reach the average rate, it leaves an even bigger gap as years pass. The state of Nevada
holds many distractions like their landmark Las Vegas, that mainly focuses on gambling. The
races that are most affected are African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans. Statistics
show that roughly 70% of all students who dropout of high school do so because of teenage
pregnancy and about one million high school students become pregnant each year. Another factor
that can lead teenagers to drop out of high school can be the neighborhood they live in. Many
communities and cities throughout states are confronted with hardships such as: gangs, alcohol
and drug abuse. Those types of lifestyles keep teenagers out of the school and introduce them to
the "street life". Immigrants face the difficulty of having to adapt to a different environment,
learning a new language and style of education from what they had in their previous country.
Most Latinos and African Americans come from low income families and are forced to drop their
education in order to help their families financially. A statistic from "Statistic Brain Researcher
shows that a shocking 75% of dropouts commit crimes. Desperate times call
for desperate actions. This is of course isn't the safest way in any note to earn money, but they are
forced to take such a gore action for their lack of dedication to finish high school.

To sum up, as years progress, more high school students will graduate. Of course the dropout
rate will remain whether it will better or not, that is completely on the educational system of our
nation. The percentage that seems to be a reliable reach for the United States high schools is at a
90%, leaving the United states with a new high record. It will be difficult for the states failing to
keep up to reach that improved rate. Its as if high schools are improving their graduation rate, but
are faced with the lack of preparing their students for college, getting a job and eliminating the
word, "dropouts". Most students are claiming the lack of preparation they received from high
school is now currently affecting their education in college. It's quite shocking how the U.S holds
some of the worst high schools, perhaps the educational systems in the four major affected states
should change. It can be that the college and university graduation rate can decrease. It will be
interesting to see what the future holds for schools in the United States.

Work-Cited Page
"High School Dropout Statistic." Statistic Brain Research Institute.
17 March 2015. Web.

Michael. "Recent High School Graduates Say They Are Not Prepared For College."College
Puzzle. Stanford. Stanford University, 22 December 2014. Web.

Takahashi, Pau;. "Nevada's high school graduation rate is worst in the nation." The e Las Vegas
Sun, 28 April 2014. Web.

Kiener, Robert. "Dropout Rate." CQ Researcher, 13 June 2014. Web.

Amdur, Eli. "By 2018, 60 percent of job openings will require college education." Las Vegas
Review Journal, 14 July 2013. Web.

Layton, Lyndsey. "Study says standardized testing is overwhelming nation's public schools." The
Washington Post, 24 October 2015.Web.

"Recent High School Graduates Report Not Being Prepared for College and Career According to

New National Survey." Achieve, 17 December 2014. Web.