US Dropout Rates 11-1-24

How many Americans drop out of high school each year? Every year, over 1.2 million students drop out of high school in the United States The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the unemployment rate of high school dropouts is 47% higher than graduates.

The status dropout rate for high school students in the United States in 2024 is 5.3%. This is the percentage of 16–24 year olds who are not enrolled in school and have not earned a high school diploma or GED.  California, Texas and New York are among the states with the highest number of high school dropouts, according to data from the United States Census Bureau.Feb 22, 2024

What is the college dropout rate in 2024? Americans who have some college education but failed to earn a credential (SCNC) make up around 12.6% of the US population (EDI, 2024). The dropout rate among students aged 16–24 is about 5.3% (NCES, 2024). At four-year schools, the dropout rate for first-time first-year students is 19.0% (EDI, 2024).

Comments

Most High School Students have no clue what they want to do to earn a living. They need to get a clue by working in different jobs when they are in High School to discover their Motivated Abilities. This is what they are good at and love doing. They can take after-school jobs and summer jobs. 

I believe the school curriculum is ideologically driven, boring and useless. Schools want to make all students into left wing social activists who march in protests. Schools need to ensure that students have the basic skills of reading, writing and doing math.

Too many Elementary School Students are not reading and writing below grade level and can’t do math at grade level. They need to be brought up to grade level before they are allowed to move to the next grade.  Parents need to work with Teachers to make this happen.  

High Schools need to teach useful information students will need to function as adults. This includes how to manage a checkbook, do their own taxes, read instructions on appliances, read contracts, understand laws they are expected to obey, how to drive a car and how to find a job. Biology should teach nutrition to understand vitamins and minerals and organ functions., Chemistry should teach organic chemistry to review vitamins and minerals. Algebra I and Algebra II should be taught one after the other. History should include the link between economics and wars. US History should include the US Constitution, the functions of the Executive, Legislative and the Supreme Court and how these institutions have changed over time and what consequences arose. Physics should be taught to show how theories can be tested to become the laws of physics. Economics should be taught to identify the US Free Market, GDP, US Trade Balance, Imports, Exports, Inflation history, interest rates, average Household Income, US Living Costs and Average Annual Salaries by Occupation and US Economic History. Students need early exposure to Cause and Effect. 

Various articles in the popular media, speeches by policy-makers, and reports to Congress have stated that the United States graduates roughly 70,000 undergraduate engineers annually, whereas China graduates 600,000 and India 350,000. The percentage of US BS Degree holders who receive BS Engineering Degrees is low at 6%.

If the US is successful in reshoring manufacturing to the US, we will need more Engineers.

The most common statistic cited around the attrition rate for engineering students is that roughly 50 percent change majors or drop out before graduation.Apr 10, 2024 

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader