Dropping Out: Another Side of the Story

Abstract

Dropping out of school is a national problem. Reducing the number of students who do so is a national goal. This study examines the school perspective of a set of families whose children dropped out. Working from audiotape-recorded interviews with 3or more members of 12families, the researchers describe a perspective that included a jaundiced view of education, a hostile view toward schooling, and a history of poor school performance at least two generations old. The families' children grew up fast, early on appropriating behaviors engaged in by older members. When they took these behaviors into school, they ran afoul of rules and regulations. For these families, school was a series of academic failures, conflicts with staff and peers, disciplinary hearings, suspensions, and expulsions. Dropping out was not a problem It was a solution.