Dropping out

leaving school before completing one's degree/diploma

Dropping out means leaving school. Reasons students drop out include because they must work, for social reasons, because of harassment, because of illness or because they no longer trust the school system that they are leaving. Unlike failing or expulsion, dropping out is the student's decision and not the school's.

Canada

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In Canada, most students graduate from grade 12 by age 18. It was found by the Labour Force Survey (LFS) that by 2009, one in twelve 20-to-24 year old adults in Canada did not have a diploma from high school (Gilmore, 2010).[1] The study also showed that males had higher dropout rates than females.[2] Other people with stronger risks for dropping out were those outside urban/suburban areas or in the northern territories. Beginning from 1990 the Canadian dropout rates went down from 20% (1990) to around 9% (2010). From 2010 and after, however, the rate did not drop across Canada. When females drop out of high school, they get less money, the economic costs are greater and they have higher rates of unemployment than male dropouts. Female high school dropouts are more likely to rely on public support programs than male dropouts.[3]

United Kingdom

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Dropping out of school is not allowed in the United Kingdom. Dropping out of college or universities, however, is allowed.[4] Students under age 16 must attend a school with the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE).[5]

United States

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In the United States, dropping out means students entirely quit school before they graduate. About 1.2 million students drop out of high school every year in the United States. They do this for different reasons: bullying, family emergency, poor grades, depression, mental illness, bad environment or not enough freedom. Students who drop out of high school in the United States are more likely to be unemployed, homeless or receiving welfare.[6] Members of certain racial or ethnic groups drop out at higher rates than white students.[7] Students raised in single-parent families and low poor students are more likely to drop out.[8]

Many states say students must stay in school until they are 16, like in the United Kingdom. However, in 1972, the United States Supreme Court said that Amish students do not have to go to high school.[9]

References

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  1. "The High School Dropout Rate is 'Ten Times Higher' than What Canadians Expected". Kitchener Today. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  2. "The Gap in Achievements Between Boys and Girls". Education Matters. Archived from the original on January 28, 2022. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  3. "High School Dropouts". National Women's Law Center. Archived from the original on July 23, 2021. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  4. "The Relationships Between Financial Issues & College Dropout". UKEssays. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  5. "The British Education System". Bright World UK. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  6. "Why the Words 'Jobs that Actually Exist are So Important". Alliance Insight. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  7. "Rate for High School Dropouts in the United States". Statista. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  8. "The One Parent Students Leave School Earlier". Education Next. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
  9. Fred P. Graham (May 16, 1972). "Court Exempts the Amish From Going to High School". New York Times. Retrieved July 23, 2021.