Castellon 1

Byron Castellon
Professor Spitler-Lawson
Eng. 113 B
11 May 2016
Project Web Final Essay
Word Count: 1281
Graduating High School With No Knowledge
Whenever things are heading to a positive direction, where one feels as if nothing can
bring them down, there's always something that gets in the way . It starts to eliminate that
momentum and completely knock you out of that route. These are known as road bumps, which
can happen in numerous 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 topic that many people may not pay too much attention to. This
can certainly be due to the lack of communication between the school districts and the parents.
The importance of this topic should be brought up as a constant reminder to the public because
education is what will path the route to successful job. The U.S graduation rate isn't reaching it's
full potential due to the lack of motivation the students have. Today the graduation rate has
increased in the U.S, but there are still constant 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 the U.S. The ideal age that is
categorized under "youth unemployment" ranges from 16-24 year olds. The article, "Why youth

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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, youth tend to fail at reaching the minimal requirements for the job. Jobs will
become more competitive on the years of 2018-2020, due to the shocking statistic that 60% of
the jobs in the United States 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. The
article also talks about how those with a college degree will have an advantage at job
opportunities as compared to those with just a high school diploma. In fact, the youth
unemployment rate can continue to grow as 2018 approaches, due to the difficult requirement
jobs will begin to request. Also there is a lack of educational knowledge within high school
students making the transition to college, a difficult one.
The constant reminder of students heading to college feeling unprepared academically is
seen commonly. In a survey that was conducted by "Achieve", an estimate of 50% of recent high
school graduates report gaps in preparation for life after high school. The two main areas they
feel they lacked on was receiving a better preparation after high school with jobs and education.
The graduation rate has reached 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 former President George W. Bush. High school students are forced to focus on
numerous amounts of exams, those such as: the "SAT" and "ACT", which are required to attend
a University in California. Shockingly, "1 in 5 high school students aren't graduating; 718,00

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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 an excessive amount of work to
be done to fill in the gap. Robert explains that fixing this problem can require a high demand of
expenses. Those expenses would productively go to school programs, online programs, teachers
and school materials, that will fit the necessary help. It's difficult for the United States to invest
money on education because the U.S government is in dep of 18 trillion dollars. Being limited to
money can be troubling, as not every school will contain the correct resources and programs
needed to secure a high increase. Being limited means to work with what is given, and this can
be the main reason why all states dont contain the same graduation rate. It seems reasonable and
clever that the U.S should enforce the same educational expectations instead of each school
district following their own rules and plan. 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 on the rise, there is still a gap between states
failing to reach the average rate. The four States that seem to always be at the bottom of the list
are: Nevada, Oregon, New Mexico and Alaska. Nevada had a shocking 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 to
those with a high rate of high school graduates. 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

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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 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. Of course this 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 school.
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 United States plans on reaching a high of 90% rate from graduates, this being the
highest in U.S history.It will be a challenge for the states failing to reach that rate. It's 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 school
dropout rates, perhaps the educational systems at the four major affected states should change.It
will be interesting to see what the future holds for schools in the United States.

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Work-Cited Page
Achieve. "Recent High School Graduates Report Not Being Prepared for College and Career
According to New National Survey." Achieve, 17 December 2014. Web.
Amdur, Eli. "By 2018, 60 percent of job openings will require college education." Las Vegas
Review Journal, 14 July 2013. Web
"High School Dropout Statistic." Statistic Brain Research Institute.
17 March 2015. Web.
Kiener, Robert. "Dropout Rate." CQ Researcher, 13 June 2014. Web.
Layton, Lyndsey. "Study says standardized testing is overwhelming nation's public schools." The
Washington Post, 24 October 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.

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