Lawrence High School dropouts clearly do not know the importance of an education. In my opinion, there are different reasons for that. Some students do not have family support. For others, I would blame it on the schools they attended when they were young and Lawrence High School itself. Another reason for dropouts is the individual itself.

If a student gets an A on a test that they studied really hard for and then, they come home and either no one is home to be proud of them or, their family does not care. The student would not feel any reason to do well in school. For the students who drop out of Lawrence High, their parents are not emphasizing the importance of school and getting an education. Sadly enough, probably their parents do not know anything different, so, the students do not know any different either.

Starting all way back to elementary to high school, elementary schools need to help students have fun, teach, and make students feel safe. When children are young that is when teaching them that dropping out of school is not okay will help students in the long run, especially if their parents are not doing it. With the junior highs, I think that has a part in the number of dropouts. I would assume the ratio of students that end up dropping out of Lawrence High from Southwest Junior High versus South Junior High is a lot higher for students who came from South Junior High. Even though there are more students that come South at Lawrence High, even with the number of dropouts were added that go to Free State, the number from South would still be higher.

With Lawrence High, I think the student to teacher ratio is ridiculous. The teachers cannot give students individual attention they need. Some students all they need is a teacher influence, but with so many students, teachers cannot bond with all 35 kids in a classroom. However, there are some teachers who do not make school remotely fun. It is too boring and if a student already does not have any motivation a boring class is not going to help. But in a teacher’s defense, there is only so much a teacher can do.

The students who drop out may have a passion for sports, which might lead to them to stay in school if they had a reason to play a sport at Lawrence High. I do not want to put down the sports here, I love to support, but when we suck at everything students do not want to be a part of that. For example, our football team has not won a game. If football was good, students would want to be “winners” and in they would want to stay in school to play.

Unfortunately, some students have to work to help their parents or even to help themselves survive. If students already have a job, they may feel there is no point of graduating. However, I think it comes down to the inner-self. I would classify a lot of the dropouts as lazy. Most students at LHS would rather go smoke, than sit in class. After awhile, they just stop coming because they are smoking all the time. Other students get pregnant and have to drop out in order to support their baby. I would also, say students just do not care. They want everything to come easy. They do not want to work hard for anything. A lot of students do not like authority and so, they do not like a teacher telling them what to do. And lastly, I would blame a cause of the dropouts on who students associate themselves with.

I think essentially it all goes back to a student’s home life and family. If a student does not know any different than dropping out of school because majority or all of their family has not even graduated from high school, it is probably way harder versus a student who has both parents who graduated from college. Some students at Lawrence High School who do not have a family to push them, I would say have no other motivation. It is unfortunate students feel is it okay to not finish high school.