The 11th please..

“And up to what year is your schooling have you completed?” the prosecutor says. “The eleventh,” states the witness.

I have noticed in my 5 weeks of jury duty that most of whom dropped out of school it happened in the 11^th grade. Why is this? Just exactly what is it about the 11^th grade, which is so daunting to the youth of America that they feel a need to quit their schooling?

It’s hard for me to relate being that I have a college degree, but I think may have an idea. I remember when I was in high school the 11^th grade was a milestone year; it would be the year that I decided if college or the workforce would be my future move. Maybe this is the reason why so many do drop out in this year.

Lets face the facts, most which drop out of school are not necessarily on the path to valedictorian. With local legislation changes made in the past 10 years or more to school boards around the country, student must take exit exams in-order to graduate. A student who has not put forth his/her best performance for the past two years schooling would have to be faced with the fear and embarrassment of failing the exam and being held back a year.

So what are our school boards to do? Continue on with the failed attempt at no child left behind and continue to pass kids out of school with a 5^th graded reading level? No, when I was in elementary school we had mentoring programs from high school. When I was in the 11^th grade I stayed a weekend at a college to get first hand experience of the college life, which played a major part in my decision to go to college.

In my opinion many youth, inner city, suburban, or rural don’t always have the best examples if any to use as role models of what path they go on to follow their childhood dreams. As children we have always been asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” But here is the question, how many of us have actually had adults take that information and try to foster that dream in order to make it a reality.

School boards should have positive examples come to class rooms to help children realize that you can be what you want to be, no matter what obstacles they are currently faced with. To add to that point it should not be a once a year thing. If positive role models can be placed with children as mentors especially in high schools, I am more than sure the drop out rates would drop dramatically.

As a You Tuber and now blogger I have placed my self in a position as a role model unknowingly. I have people who I talked to regularly and try to feed them advice based on my personal experiences. If there aren’t such programs in school systems currently for those who are currently in high school and reading this, take the initiative to find your own role model and mentor. Maybe then the 11^th grade will not be the end of the road for you!