American society places a huge emphasis on education. Many individuals are encouraged to go to college and earn graduate so that they are able to be competitive in the job market. Because great jobs can be difficult for one to acquire, many stress the importance of higher education. There is a strong belief that those who do not graduate high school will be unable to positively contribute to society because they are not marketable. In 2012, about 750,000 students did not graduate from high school (Camera, 2015). While there are many factors that affect the culture of high school dropouts, the three that will be discussed in this paper are the factors, employment and work, mental health, and stereotypes.
Factors Affecting the High School Dropout
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One stereotype is that dropouts just are minorities, particularly African Americans and Hispanics. The demographics according to Pew Research Center (2015) thirty-three percent of dropouts are Hispanic, sixteen percent are Black, nine percent are Asian, and five percent are Non-Hispanic White. While minorities make up a large portion of high school dropouts the culture is not limited to minorities only. Another stereotype of people in the high school dropout culture is that those who do not graduate high school are less competent than those who do. Analysis conducted by America's Promise Alliance (2016) found that those who do not graduate high school are just as competent as those who do and that often reasons that have nothing to do with intelligence and competency play a role in one's decision to not graduate high school. For example, a student may leave school to care for family members either physically, financially or both. Stereotypes are offensive to all cultural groups because not everyone in the group is identical. The same goes for high school dropouts. Each person has a unique situation that lead them to make the discussion to leave