In a USA Today Sarah M. Coyne, an assistant professor at Brigham Young University, was quoted in a news article saying, "As a society we've gotten pretty lax concerning profanity. We're desensitized to it.” More specifically, kids are desensitized to using homophobic slurs. The problem is everywhere, including at Downers Grove South high school (DGS). Many teachers and students at DGS claimed they hear homophobic slurs multiple times a week, if not multiple times a day. According to the Gay and Lesbian Education Network (GLSEN) Over half of all students have reported hearing homophobic remarks often at school.
Even though the drop out rate has been decreasing annual the dropout rate is still too high at 7% in 2011. (nces.ed.gov/fastfacts.com) While there are many reasons for dropping out of high school there are some factors that I have found to be more apparent in the high school drop out. Several decades worth of studies have documented that dropouts are more likely to be poor, minority, and male and also come from a single parent family. However students who have those characteristics are more likely to drop out but it is educational reasons over personal reasons that pose the more realistic reason why students drop out of high school. Students with poor academic performance and educational disengagement prove to be the main reason students drop out of high school.
However, the lifetime expectancy of affective disorder for women may be closer to one in five. Of 2,654 college and universities surveyed nation wide, sates that one out every four students will drop out of school by their second year. Age: The age group of depressed college students is 18 – 32 many students find the adjustment from high school to college difficult. Even the student that seems most at ease with their new lifestyle will often confess to moments of missing their familiar high school friends, family and other comforts of home. A study by UCLA reports that more then 30 percent of college freshmen say they feel overwhelmed most of the time in the beginning stages of college.
According to many studies, in between 80 and 95 percent of high school students admitted to cheating at least once in the past year and 75 percent admitted to cheating four or more times. The research goes back 15 years but that’s the highest it’s ever been. In the mid-1990s, it was around 60 percent (Walker, T., 2012) Some of the other problems student’s faces regarding cheating are; how cheating undermines
Student Motivation Virtually 30 states now assess schools primarily or solely on the basis of student test scores. A similar number unequivocally tie student promotions or graduations according to the performance on state or district tests. When interviewed about high-stake testing several teachers perceptions were obvious of how classrooms have changed since the implementation of high stakes tests. They established that teachers believed that standardized tests noticeably cause younger students to experience, stress, fatigue, misbehavior and emotional distress. Teachers have reported that student morale had deteriorated and none reported that it had improved since high stakes have been implemented in schools.
Ethics of American Teenagers In 2008 the Josephson Institute of Los Angeles created a report card on the Ethics of American Youth. Surveying about 26,760 high school students across america and asked 62 questions on their actions and attitudes. The report card gave results that explains, American school students are proven to have cheated, lied and stolen in their past year, As students continue to commit to bad habits like these, they can affect society and ruin futures for not only them but us! According to the report card, three areas were covered. Lying, cheating, and stealing.
A recent article states that about 77% of students have admitted to being the victim of a bully. The American Justice Department bullying statistics show that one out of every four kids will be bullied at some time by their adolescence (Bullying Statistics, 2013). One of the most unfortunate parts of these school bullying statistics is that in about 85% of bullying cases, no intervention or effort is made by a teacher or faculty member of the school to stop the bullying from taking place (Bullying Statistics, 2013). The consequences of bullying are numerous. Children are facing physical and emotional damage.
There are different types of bullying of which bullying statistics reveal almost half of all students have experienced. 35% of kids have been threatened online and six out of ten teenagers say they witness bullying in school every day. 75% of school shooting incidents have been linked to bullying and harassment. Verbal bullying is the most common type of bullying, with about 77 percent of all students being verbally bullied in some way including mental bullying or verbal abuse. These types of bullying can also include spreading rumors, yelling obscenities or other derogatory terms based on an individual's race, gender, sexual orientation and religion.
Grades of a “C” or less went from twenty five percent in 1969 to nine percent in 1993. These numbers reveal a pattern that continues today which should concern teachers and students alike. Many students may not see the problem with grade inflation, but I disagree. If everyone in the class is receiving the same grade, how will students know how they are performing individually? Why should students feel they need to put forth the extra effort, if they can give a mediocre performance and succeed anyway?
On average, only 58% of students in America's 50 largest cities make it to graduation. The decision to drop out is a dangerous one for the student. Dropouts are much more likely than their peers who graduate to be unemployed, living in poverty, receiving public assistance, in prison, on death row, unhealthy, divorced, and single parents with children who drop out from high school themselves. The dropout problem is likely to increase substantially through 2020 unless significant improvements are made. So why students drop out of school and what can be done to decrease the number of dropouts?