High School Drop Out Rates In Texas

Last semester marked the beginning of a new journey as I signed up to be a mentor with Austin Partners in Education, a non-profit organization of trained volunteer tutors and mentors. Several days into mentoring I learned of the desperate lives many Austin students live; my mentee, a 13 year old Hispanic girl is facing issues in and outside of school that divert her focus from school work. During our first mentoring session she admitted to a desire to end her education once out of middle school. Today the U.S. Department of Education estimates the Texas high school dropout rate at 28.1 percent, another estimate calculates the dropout rate to be closer to 35.5 percent, and these percentages increase in minority populations. These numbers reflect the struggle school officials face when it comes to maintaining students engaged in school, and with recent budget cuts to public schools, engagement will surely come at a greater cost.

After the $4 billion budget cuts in Texas, thousands of teachers were left unemployed while classrooms overcrowded with children. More children and fewer teachers amount to restricted attention per student, and decreased personal attention leads to lower performance in school work. The budget cuts prove to have a more pronounced effect on students facing issues beyond the academic field. Family and personal problems often make their way into school; this further aggravates the issue of academic competence, and in turn, many students feel compelled to drop out of school.

Dropout rates may seem irrelevant to the average Texas citizen, after all, it is not they who suffer minimum wage jobs, drug addictions, and unemployment; but each student who drops out of school costs the state $6-$10 billion over the student’s lifetime (Statesman).
It is imperative to find a solution to this problem. One possible solution is that of mentoring and tutoring programs, such as Big Brothers Big Sisters and Austin Partners in Education. When implemented correctly such programs are proven to be effective in reducing dropout rates and increasing academic performance. Webb Middle School witnessed an increase of commended 8^th grade students from 6.8% to 22% in the 2010-2011 academic year, while nearly “half of 6^th grade students in the Step-Up Reading passed the TAKS test for the first time ever” (APIE).

Evidence of the success of mentoring and tutoring programs is obvious. These programs benefit, not only students, but society as a whole. What is needed now is a greater number of schools engaging more of their students with volunteer mentors and tutors. Today my mentee has expressed interest, not only in attending high school, but college as well; she is even searching for scholarship opportunities.

Abstinance, An Overused Word

The importance of sexual education among middle and high school students is essential, not only to reduce teen pregnancy, but sexually transmitted diseases as well. My classmate, Eloisa, presents us with her blog entry titled “Teaching Abstinence “Plus”?” where she gives us some insight into the recently introduced sexual education program in Texas, whose purpose is to reduce pregnancy rates among teens by implementing a combination of techniques, including: abstinence and contraception use, whereas before the curriculum consisted of abstinence-only lecture. She makes reference to several outside sources which provide valuable information -such as statistics relating to teen pregnancy- and also gives her personal opinion on the matter. While Eloisa thoroughly summarizes the new curriculum, her opinion seems quite ambiguous; she states “Now for me and my two cents its [sic] seems as though teaching about condoms, birth control, and contraception is pushing the boundries [sic],” then later agrees that “the more we talk about [sex/contraception]  with preteens and inform them about it, the better.”

It is a difficult issue to tackle, so ambiguity is not uncommon. Among the factors motivating the various responses from communities in Texas, are religion, ethics, and the law. Texas does not require that schools teach sexual education, but when they do, what is taught is strictly regulated. Many schools have yet to adopt and implement the new curriculum, some continuing in their belief of an abstinence-only education despite clear evidence of its futility. Hesitation to educate students on contraception use and their rate of effectiveness leads many to believe schools are condoning sexual activity rather than teaching to refrain from it. Continuing to teach sexual education in fear will ultimately lead to an increase in teen pregnancy rates, it might even place Texas number one on the national leaderboard.