Would you like to know why LHS has a dropout rate that is tremendously bigger than any other school in the county and bigger than any other school in the state? Well I will tell you why from a teen’s point of view.

Let me tell you what I see in school now days. Teachers get angry because kids will not cooperate or they will have attitude with everything that is said or done. They get pissed off because they expect us to act like adults. Well let me tell you first hand that now days, it’s all about respect. It shouldn’t be like this but it is. If the teachers think that they are better or have more power or power over the children then they abuse it. Now I will tell you that I can give you a select few teachers that are like this and granted there are a lot of children that have no respect for anybody and no matter who you are they just don’t give a damn. But those kids who work their tails off, those kids who do what they are asked to do and jump when you say jump should not be treated like those children with no respect get treated.

I also think that teachers need to treat us more like adults if they would like us to act like them. You know, that means if we have to go to the bathroom let us go. Don’t sit there and say, “Well you just got back from lunch” or “no we are in the middle of this.” You know let us listen to our iPods as long as it’s not interrupting anyone else. Let us wear our hood in the hallways if we want to. Let us have our cell phones out during passing period. Honestly what would be the harm in that? Teachers can have their cell phones out in class but we get ours taken away. That just gives the teachers another reason to have power of the children. That’s now what the children like. If you give us the freedom and respect that you say we should act like then children wouldn’t mind coming to school. There are other reasons as well but we will get to those in a few.

For the most part, I love a lot of the Lawrence High School staff. I don’t know if I would even get up for school in the morning if I didn’t have people like our secretaries, Amy and Julie to see. Teachers all over the school are awesome and have great personalities. But then there are those who are the complete opposite. I come from my physics class and have the best time because my teacher makes things interesting and makes me want to learn, then I go to my history class where my teacher acts like a Nazi. You know, if all the teachers would be the same way then I don’t think we would have this problem. If all the teachers could give us respect and treat us like adults, the way they say we need to act, then I think that the dropout rate would be different. That would be nice.

Let’s get to the home life. Parents need to be more active in their children’s lives. Discipline starts at home. If you have no respect for your parents why would you have respect for any other adults in your life? My mother and stepmother are always on my skyward page looking up days that I have missed or skipped, and assignments that I have missed or that are due. Honestly, I like the fact that they know what I have due in a week. Sometimes I don’t pay enough attention in class and it’s very important that they stay on top of things when I don’t.

If all of these things could change or possibly start to take the slightest affect then the dropout rate would be different. I know this is going to contradict everything I just said but it’s on the students to make this change. It helps when we have a great staff and a great home life, but it’s all on the children. This is why I think we have a big dropout rate.