by Luke Mcclure

Created on: September 20, 2009

High drop out rates can be reduced when we help students learn to want to learn. Their are multiple reasons a student drops out of school but the most general and accurate description of why can be boiled down to the individual not regarding his or her education as being more important than other pursuits. Of course justifiable reasons exist for dropping out, but few things in life are as important as an education. Getting students to realize this is precisely how to deal with high drop out rates.

First we must all demonstrate how education is more than just job security. It goes beyond the provision of basic tools to help one balance a check book, or to read and write. The epitome of education is the awakening of oneself to her or his own ability to think critically, analyze and synthesize knowledge to arrive at a rational conclusion. In a democratic nation these abilities provided by education are essential not only for individual pursuit of happiness, advancements in science and technology, economic strength, but the vitality and health of our political system.

The difficulty is helping young people grasp exactly how important an education is for them. To inspire a young mind can be as simple as letting them taste and wield the power of knowledge for themselves. Let them know that not only does higher education correlate with higher salaries, but it can empower individuals to accomplish things they have no chance of doing without. Teachers who look out into their classrooms and say, the next president of the United States may be in this very room, are letting young minds know the potential that education can unleash. At the very least it should be reinforced that education provides a student with the ability and liberty to make up ones own mind and provide a rational reason as to why.

To help a student see how education can enhance every aspect of life is one way to ensure that person will want an education for them self, not for the instructor, not for the parent. Allow students to see how they can be more influential and articulate, more successful, more free. Teach them to realize how education can enhance personal beliefs, not shatter them, by providing them with the ability to clearly define and research exactly why they believe what they believe, thus freeing them from the generalizations of others. This entrenches one in education against the temptations of other pursuits.

In a capitalist society we would be naive to ignore that people are often motivated

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>