This is why it is somewhat understandable, as to why society looks at high school dropouts as deadweight. The effects do not just dwell on the dropout. The Dropouts, Diplomas, and Dollars, U.S. High Schools and the Nation’s Economy published by Alliance for Excellent Education, reports that in his or her lifetime, a single dropout can cost the nation an estimated $260,000 in lost earnings, taxes and productivity. So if all secondary schools could get all of their seniors to graduate, the payoff would be a substantial gain compared to previous years. For example, in 2008, if all dropouts would have graduated, the nation would have benefited from an additional $319 billion in income. Today, with these same analyses, the nation could benefit from an additional $310 billion. In consequence to the unfortunate decisions made by these students, the nation must spend more money for giving additional assistance such as uninsured healthcare and college remediation programs. The fund for this assistance is provided by the United States taxpayers which totals to an estimated $25 billion a …show more content…
Though the numbers aren’t as alarming as previous years, it is an issue that the United States is still trying to dissolve. According to Richard Fry, senior researcher at the Pew Research Center, more high school students are staying in school and graduating. The high school dropout rate reached a record low as of last year. With the high percentage of students being minorities, the numbers are steadily decreasing and are expected to continue. President Barack Obama hopes to have raised the current 80% graduation rate to 90% by the year 2020. States such as Vermont and Wisconsin have already met this goal. The remaining states are either on track to meet this goal or are following slightly behind.
In conclusion, we as a society have a tendency of marginalizing high school dropouts. We quickly assume that they are somewhat menaces to society that are poor and non-educated which is not the case. Though many have dropped out of school, there are some with high paying careers doing better than most high school and college graduates. The population is small but it is present. Even for those who may not have graduated, program s such as the GED program and Jobs Corps are available for them to receive their high school diploma. Therefore, it is important not to criticize someone based off of one