Dropouts Costing Wages
I fixed my hyperlinking, finally....
This article talks about how costly it is for kids to dropout of high school. They have realized the value of the 2008 dropouts, which was just under 600,000 nationwide to be about $4.1 billion in lost wages and over $500 million in lost property, federal, and state taxes. This is an insane amount! Earlier in the blog I discussed about dropout rates and how much it can cost the state over the life of the person. This is a much larger deal. We all know that dropouts earn less than high school graduates and earn at least less than half that of a college graduate. However, if these guys had stayed in school and only graduated high school, hundreds of millions of dollars would have been generated in wages and taxes. This would help strengthen the economy despite the high unemployment rate. The employment market is turning into a bunch of unskilled labor because so many jobs go unfilled because of lack of qualified hires. There are jobs where the base salary is above 70K a year but no one qualified applies because everyone qualified already has a job. We think that dropping out only costs the student, but in fact it can have huge impacts on our communities, local and federal governments, and the economy. The dropouts are USUALLY never successful beyond creating trouble in and around their home cities. There are many who go back to school or make a life change, but those are fewer than the ones who drop out and do anything good. I know many high school and college dropouts from my high school class and they struggle on a daily basis. They have no career and are working a $8.50/hr job. Not that that is bad, earning money and working a job is important, but when a person is so creative and energetic and they waste it away because they want to party or are too lazy to do the work, it is not right. Most of my friends that graduated with me are working a rough 9 to 5 and can't get a break. I am happy where I am and know I can make a career out of teaching. However, back to the point of dropouts, it is never a good thing. People take for granted the opportunities an education can afford you. All I know is the less school I have the longer I will work. I would like to retire after 30 years of service and not have to put in 45 because I made the right decision to stay in school and go as far as I possibly could to earn the most amount of money.
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Hello Corey,
ReplyDeleteI did not know that amount that it cost when students dropout. What is the legal age for students to dropout in GA? I believe in ND it is 16 but I could be wrong. I think if students dropout then they should HAVE to finish the school year at JobCorps till they are 18. I also think a huge problem with the dropout rate is drugs and the money students make selling them. I think if states put the heat on per say about drugs like they do about smoking and drinking it would help. Lastly, I think students should not be able to move up in grades from 1-8th grade if they fail. Parents should not be able to push them forward. When they get to high school they don't have the skills to succeed and they dropout. Have a good week.
I, like Kyren, did not realize that the amount of money being wasted in taxes, income, etc. was so high. Yes, our economy would be in a much different stage if only people would not think of the immediate present but to the future and stay in school. I would agree that drugs to pay a huge part in why students dropout of school as well as the lasck of teacher and parent support for those students who struggle. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteCory,
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting view on dropouts. I take the report with a grain of salt, however, since those dropouts would probably be linked to much deeper issues including family problems, drugs, or crime early on in their lives. If they succeeded to earn their degree and then go on to work an actual job, I'd suspect the pressures of "dropping out" later in life would be ever present. I don't think the degree would keep them clean. The numbers the report came up with are numbers that anyone could generate for whatever reason. Statistics work for people in whatever format they'd like them to work. How about giving jobs to people who have proven themselves time and again instead of people who aren't stable? We can't hold people's hands forever, and if they choose to dropout, I guarantee there were many factors that played into that decision that nobody can control but the person making it. It's like those professional beggars who actually have homes and make upwards to 30k a year on street corners who were exposed by 20/20. They've made the choice to do what they do as a dropout would.
If our country is truly losing money to these people, then our system needs to change so we're not babying people or sustaining them. Cut off the funding and the support for people who make these choices and it will force a few things. Either more crime, or cause them to make a choice to get their degree. Consequences should be immediately implemented. How about a "bail" set for people to dropout? Let's say they have to pay $10,000 to quit high school prior to earning a degree? Or something equal to the amount the report says they cost us later?
Have a good week.
Randy B.