There are many reasons why students may drop out of school, including financial difficulties, academic struggles, or family responsibilities. Whatever the reason, dropping out of school can have a significant impact on the individual and on society as a whole.
On an individual level, dropping out of school often leads to lower paying jobs and less job stability. This can lead to a cycle of poverty and difficulty making ends meet. In addition, dropouts are more likely to become involved in crime and to struggle with addiction.
On a societal level, the effects of school dropouts can be far-reaching. Dropouts are more likely to rely on government assistance, which can put a strain on public resources. In addition, they are less likely to vote or participate in other civic activities, which can lead to a decline in the overall health of democracy. Finally, dropping out of school can have a ripple effect, as the children of dropouts are more likely to drop out themselves.
In short, the decision to drop out of school can have serious consequences, both for the individual and for society as a whole.
To take a deeper look, it’s important to look at the variety of reasons that students drop out and dig a bit deeper into them. For example, as mentioned above, financial instability is one of the main reasons for students with high potential to drop out. This increases the already slow process of employing workers for highly skilled jobs. This can create huge economic losses for the society.
Another reason would be substance abuse, as found out during a 2018 research study for the reasons why students choose to drop out. Addiction to substances such as drugs and alcohol can lead to students completely disconnecting themselves from the educational system and needing extensive rehabilitation therapy to come back to that stage again. This can not only affect the individual but also the entire society; as the cases of substance abuse increases, more students choose to drop out, and lesser go to college or pursue further education or jobs which create a stunt in growth for the society as a whole. This in-turn adds to the problems mentioned above: not voting, relying on government assistance, and creating a loss for the society as a whole in general. In order to reduce this, a lot of countries have chosen to introduce substance abuse courses which outline the consequences that are caused by substance abuse.
What we fail to realise at times is that a lot of the times dropping out is not the student’s ideal choice at all. Family responsibilities have been recorded as one of the most demanding reasons for student’s to leave school or college early. This can be due to an untimely death of a parent or simply because parents force children to drop out because they believe working and earning money is more important, which is usually difficult without a certified degree. Furthermore, this can cause a hierarchy of drop outs, as children see their parents dropping out, they follow the same footsteps. This can harm the society as the number of educated individuals reduces and therefore jobs that require skill are forced to employ people who may not be as great as the ones who could be if they didn’t drop out.
Therefore, dropping out of school or college can not only harm one’s individual growth, but also the society’s growth as a whole. This can lead to underdeveloped economies and low employment rates, which in-turn create low living standards for the citizens and increase poverty in the country. This is why education, and finishing school and college, is highly important for not only the person, but the society as a whole.