Dropping Out of School :: Why Students Drop Out

An efficient educational system is the one that achieves the teaching objectives without wasting time and money, but what happens when the goals are not reached? There are three options for the student pass the grade, repeat it or dropout of school. According to Ruebel, Ruebel, and O’Laughlin (2001), â€Å"School dropout is described as a process of disengagement in which students become more and more alienated from school and withdraw to the point of dropping out† (p.58). When students decide to drop out of school they are diminishing the opportunities to succeed, and lacking themselves from the tools of competing in our society today for a better future, they are at risk to engage in criminal activities and become dependent of the government system like welfare. A person that has been educated will have more possibilities to compete for a good job, and have a good quality of life. Woods explained that risk factors for dropping out of school exists in all life domains (i.e., individual family, school, community, peer relations), and the likelihood of a student dropping out of school increases as these risk factors accumulate (as cited in Christle et al., 2007). The phenomenon of dropout is caused by a variety of reasons, which must be studied to determine possible solution and prevention. According to Azzam (2007), the dropouts in her study identified five major reasons for leaving school and stated them as the following: Students were bored with school (47%); had missed school to many days and could not catch up (43%); spent time with people who were not interested in school (42%); had too much freedom and not enough rules in their lives (38%); and were failing (35%). (p. 91). Financial difficulties is a strong factor for the desertion of school, and even when the student does not want to leave the school he/she has to do it because of the family lack of financial resources. Diyu (2002) found that family financial difficulties are the primary reason for dropping out school. Also, migration by the parents from place to place looking for better job opportunities does not give the children the stability, confidence, they need. In their study, Morris, Pawlovich, and McCall, found that having several sibling or older siblings factors into the school leaving formula (as cited in Terry, 2008). Older siblings have to take care of the young ones because the parents cannot afford the payment of the day care.