San Diego is a city that is inhibited by both the rich and the poor. However, the gap between the rich and the poor is extremely large, and for that case, the rate of high school dropout has been increasing at a ravenous rate. According to the San Diego's Department of Education report for 2013-2014, it is apparent that in over 40, 000 students who joined ninth grade in 2010-2011 about 9.7% of them dropped out of school, which translates to about 3, 900 students. Strange enough, this value represents a 0.5% increase, from the 9.2% dropout rate for the class of 2012-2013 (Gulati, Vijayasekharan, & Negi, 2014).
The current high school dropout rate for San Diego is on high alert and if clear interventions are not taken to avert the existing menace, then the city's academic excellence standards, which it once boosted upon might be in the verge of a looming extinction. In review, the main effects that the city's high school drop-out rate may have on the community include increased crime and increased levels of community poverty. First, it is critical to note that, when students drop out of school, the number of city idlers increases by a large margin. Consequently, the escalating number of city idlers elevates the level of crimes committed in the community such as theft, homicide, and rape due to joblessness. Secondly, the drop-out rate at the city will most likely lead to increased levels of community poverty due to increased joblessness. Basically, education is considered as a key ingredient for eliminating poverty in the community, and in the event that students keep dropping out of school, then it is obvious that San Diego will keep languishing in high poverty levels. Unfortunate enough, the gap between the rich and the poor will still be on the rise. Therefore, the government should move in speed to quench the rising high school drop-out statistics.
Reference
Gulati, R., Vijayasekharan, K., & Negi, V. (2014). PO-1011 High Rate Of School Absenteeism And Drop-out In Children With Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis From A Developing Country. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 99(Suppl 2), A580-A581. doi:10.1136/archdischild-2014-307384.1627
Who drops out? What is a profile of a drop-out? What percent are males? What percent females? What is the racial distribution? Is there a class correlate? Are there more drop-outs in urban areas?