Students Dropping Out of High School Reaches Epidemic Levels

In Some Cities, Half of All Students Quitting School
By PIERRE THOMAS and JACK DATE

Nov. 20, 2006 — In several of the largest school systems across the country — from Baltimore to Cleveland to Atlanta and Oakland, Calif. — half of the students are dropping out.

And the problem is not only in the big cities.

Watch the second part of Pierre Thomas' report Tuesday on "World News with Charles Gibson."

A recent study by the Department of Education found that 31 percent of American students were dropping out or failing to graduate in the nation's largest 100 public school districts.

The implications from dropping out of high school are enormous, including a higher risk of poverty and even an abbreviated life span.

So why do they drop out? Eli Thomasson, 16, of Georgia, explains why he wanted to drop out of school earlier this year.

"I was just tired of school, you know. I didn't like it. I had made my mind up that I wasn't going to school anymore," Thomasson said.

His mother, Donna Thomasson, was frantic.

"Terrified," she said. "I thought his life was over. I didn't really see how I could force him to go because you can't force them to learn if they don't want to."

And Eli Thomasson wasn't the only student at his high school to consider walking away without a diploma.

Berrien High in southern Georgia is part of a national epidemic. More than 40 percent of students there do not graduate.

Sheila Hendley, Berrien High's graduation coach, has the daunting job of trying to stop this epidemic.

"I have sat with students and literally begged, 'Please don't do this,'" Hendley said. "I don't want you to have to suffer like I know you will if you don't finish school."

And in the case of Eli Thomasson, it worked. She stayed on his case and persuaded him to stay in school.

"He said, 'You know, mom. She probably just saved my life,'" Donna Thomasson said.

It is estimated that about 2,500 students drop out of U.S. high schools every day.

"It's like seeing a child in the middle of the lake that can't swim, and you see them bobbing up and down. It's like watching them drown," Hendley said.

At Berrien High, the faculty is fighting to save students who are at risk of becoming a part of that troubling statistic. "It's a real fight. Every day you talk to someone who needs to be motivated," said Berrien High School Principal Mike Parker.

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