High School Dropouts Reflection Essay

I believe the dropout rate is so high because, as stated in the article â€Å"High School Dropouts: Costly to American Economy†, â€Å"the teachers [don’t] care, the students [don’t] care.† I believe that lack of interest on both the student’s and the teacher’s part impacts whether a student might drop out. I also believe that factors like, problems at home, bullying at school, etc., also plays an enormous role on the results stated in the articles. Knowing that one of the main reasons of having a job includes, earning money, it leads me to assume that those who drop out do not want to earn less, or be among the 12% of jobless individuals that do not have a high school diploma. Furthermore, I believe that it is evident that a high number or drop outs implies that there are important factors behind what causes an individual to decide to drop out of high school. Looking at the statistics that dropouts cost taxpayers $8 billion annually, and $300 billion dollars in earnings are lost every year due to the decrease in pay of those who do not have a high school diploma, has led me to believe that our state/federal government should eliminate the option of dropping out of high school. It makes no sense that they have not done so, seeing that they have the right, and it is within their power and right to do so. Also, after seeing the statistic that the incarceration rates were 63 times higher among high school drop outs within the ages of 16 and 24, and in an effort to solve two problems: the number of kids that drop out of high school and kids who are behind bars, I believe there should be a greater effort to achieve mass awareness about the negative effects of dropping out of high school early, the same magnitude as the programs and advertisements on breast cancer, and the effects of smoking cigarettes. This plan, although costly, would in turn decrease the amount of high school dropouts, people behind bars, and jobless individuals in this nation. Presidential Election Reflection I believe that out of the five factors listed in the article, the debates are the most important. I believe the debates are important because it allows you to look at each candidate side by side and hear not only their plan on how they plan on turning the economy around, creating jobs, and leading this country on a path that will allow us to decrease this nation’s debt but also to see each candidate’s tactics on using the opposing opponent words or ideas to bash/ or blatantly state why they are wrong. I also believe it is important because you get to actually hear their own words and beliefs, unrehearsed, without a teleprompter, and without being warped in the game of telephone by social media and propaganda. I think that the presidential debates are more important than the electoral map, because the electoral map for the most part generally stays the same and predictable. The ads and messages used to attack the other candidate, or twist the words of another candidate in my opinion are effective, but very childish, immature, and not anything I would imagine a â€Å"president† taking a part of. Propaganda is a very effective way of spreading a message, and getting everyone’s attention, so it’s also important, although not in the same way as the debates are. In my opinion, money is the second most important part of the presidential race. The amount of money a party raises, shows how much they are supported. In the article, it states that â€Å"the Republican Party presidential committees had about $186 million on hand, compared with about $124 million for Mr. Obama and the Democrats.† This shows how both each candidate is supported. I actually have watched one of the debates, as an extra credit assignment for U.S History, and I thought that the debate was interesting, and I liked how the debate was set up.