When most people hear the words “high school drop out”, they automatically think of drug addicts or alcoholics. Out of the 1.2 million teenagers who drop out of high school in the United States every year, a handful of them are because they have a greater job to fulfill. While school is incredibly important, these teens don’t get to experience having their diploma of 12 hard years given to them, because they have a time consuming adult-like responsibility, or they are faced with an unavoidable problem.
Mostly every teenager that is spoken to about matters that they dislike is the seemingly endless number of chores and responsibilities. But what about the ones who are burdened with the responsibilities of an adult? For example, Zak is a young football player who does incredible work on the field and in his academics. Suddenly, his world feels like a monstrous, thrashing tornado of lectures and bad news. He finds out that his mother is incredibly ill, and isn’t expected to live another year. With two siblings and a “missing” father, he has to step into not only his father’s shoes, but his mother’s too. Now, the woman who was once a lively ball of sparkling joy, lively laughs, and amusing jokes, is now a cold, ghost-like figure who can’t even speak to her son anymore. He now has to become something he wasn’t meant to be for a few years; an adult. And with this type of responsibility, he doesn’t have time to fill his spot on the football team, the academic squad, or even his teenage paradise, school. Which leads him to be overloaded with stress, and incredible responsibility.
Thousands of stories are released about bullying, and often times, the torment and humiliation piles up as high as Mt. Everest. Until, this poor walking target, the reason for a bully to make a “Kick Me” sign, leaves the very place that the torment is conceived;school. For example, when a dorky sophomore has been through 10 years, 3,650 days of putrid bullying, she is no longer able to ignore the hurtful words of her peers,and drops out of high school, and her incredibly bright future. On the other hand, teenagers are forced to be pulled out of their source of happiness and afternoon activities because of an unhealthy income at home. Their parents are no longer able to pay for this glamorous, yet future assuring school, and the child loses their entire contact with academics.
Therefore, while there are many reasons for the millions of teenagers to drop out of high school, including heart wrenching responsibilities, bullying, and money problems, sometimes there is no other option than to drop out of school, your life goals, and your future.