Causes of the High School Drop Out Rate
11/24/12
WR 121
Causes of the High School Drop Out Rate As of 2011, in the United states today a teen drops out of high school every 26 seconds, this means over 7,000 teens drop out every day and 1.2 million drop out every year.(2) This is a problem because without a high school degree it becomes very hard to get a good job and have a quality life. The causes of the high school dropout rate can be attributed to the use of recreational drugs, bullying, depression, and not being motivated or inspired. Over the years recreational drug use has played a big part in the failure to complete high school. Such drugs include marijuana, alcohol, and some other harder drugs such as methamphetamines. To an extent marijuana and alcohol are the most used drugs in high school. Over 22.6% of seniors said they used marijuana in the past month and 44.7% of all high school students have had alcohol in the past month.(3)(5) When a person ingested marijuana they might experience some of the most prevalent side effects such as A-Motivational Syndrome, sleepiness, and short-term memory loss.(8) A-Motivational Syndrome is a combination of side effects such as a short attention span, decreased energy and ambition, poor judgment, impaired communications skills and diminished effectiveness in social situations.(7) This could be detrimental to a teens high school career if the student uses the drug regularly because with the student having no motivation it makes it hard for them to succeed in school and graduate. The effect of sleepiness on a student impairs their learning because the time spent being under the intoxication of marijuana could be spent on achieving academic goals. With the student not learning it makes getting behind in class very easy. Lastly another common side effect is short-term memory loss. When marijuana is ingested the person will adopt a condensed short term memory from anywhere between a couple of days to a couple of weeks, depending on many factors including
WR 121
Causes of the High School Drop Out Rate As of 2011, in the United states today a teen drops out of high school every 26 seconds, this means over 7,000 teens drop out every day and 1.2 million drop out every year.(2) This is a problem because without a high school degree it becomes very hard to get a good job and have a quality life. The causes of the high school dropout rate can be attributed to the use of recreational drugs, bullying, depression, and not being motivated or inspired. Over the years recreational drug use has played a big part in the failure to complete high school. Such drugs include marijuana, alcohol, and some other harder drugs such as methamphetamines. To an extent marijuana and alcohol are the most used drugs in high school. Over 22.6% of seniors said they used marijuana in the past month and 44.7% of all high school students have had alcohol in the past month.(3)(5) When a person ingested marijuana they might experience some of the most prevalent side effects such as A-Motivational Syndrome, sleepiness, and short-term memory loss.(8) A-Motivational Syndrome is a combination of side effects such as a short attention span, decreased energy and ambition, poor judgment, impaired communications skills and diminished effectiveness in social situations.(7) This could be detrimental to a teens high school career if the student uses the drug regularly because with the student having no motivation it makes it hard for them to succeed in school and graduate. The effect of sleepiness on a student impairs their learning because the time spent being under the intoxication of marijuana could be spent on achieving academic goals. With the student not learning it makes getting behind in class very easy. Lastly another common side effect is short-term memory loss. When marijuana is ingested the person will adopt a condensed short term memory from anywhere between a couple of days to a couple of weeks, depending on many factors including