High School Dropouts

High school dropouts -- a growing problem in our society, or is it? After hearing about dropouts heading back to school to receive a diploma on the local news, I often wonder what they were missing out on. I mean, does a dropout really need to head back only to solve a quadratic equation or to write an five paragraph essay on The American Revolution? I'm willing to bet that more than half of parents who've graduated from high school don't even know how to solve a quadratic equation or how The American Revolution came about. It's really annoying to witness activates telling students to stay in school when some of the activates themselves could not accomplish high school level work. This is why I personally believe that a diploma is nothing more than a piece of paper. Much of society is too focused on whether a person obtained a high school diploma rather than one's real intellect. That piece of paper determines whether you're qualified to get a job, which is real disturbing to me since high school level work does not give you work experience.

I myself being a high school graduate had somewhat of a difficult time in my first year of college. I'm nineteen years old and I'm sure that I can speak for some people on that. If high school really prepares a student, then why is college considered a challenge? Why are we learning math, history, English, and etc. in college if we've already taken the same classes in high school? For example, college algebra is exactly the same as Algebra I & II in high school. When put in perspective, it's obvious why people regurgitate the same stuff again in college; it's because high school lacks in preparing a student for the real world. I mean, when you head to college, you have to take at least two years of classes that you've already taken in high school before you actually get into your major. Does that itself make a statement that education in high school lacks of doing a good job? I personally think of it like that. This is why it bothers me when a job determines whether a person has a high school diploma, because in reality, many high school graduates have the same intuition as some high school dropouts.

In the end, I believe society is too focused on a high school diploma rather than someone's intelligence. I understand that it's natural for us to forget some of the material we've learned in high school. However, why is it that jobs are more focused on a diploma that was obtained decades ago rather than someone's current intellect? Why does a dropout really need to head back to school to make it in this world? High school does not prepare you for a certain job. Work experience prepares you for a job. Many high school graduates who apply for a job must gain a certain level of job experience before working anyway. Many of the jobs that require a high school level education can easily be done by a high school dropout. If society can focus less on a trivial diploma and put for attention on one's ability, then I think this country would be much smarter.