Dropping Out in the United States

Dropping out means leaving a group for either practical reasons, necessities or disillusionment with the system from which the individual in question leaves.

Most commonly, dropping out refers to a student quitting school before he or she graduates. It cannot always be ascertained that a student has dropped out, as he or she may stop attending without terminating enrollment. It is estimated 1.2 million students annually dropout of high school in the United States, where high school graduation rates rank 19th in the world. Reasons are varied and may include: to find work, avoid bullying, family emergency, poor grades, depression, unexpected pregnancy, bad environment, lack of freedom, and boredom from lack of lessons relevant to the world of work. The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts by Civic Enterprises explores reasons students leave school without graduating. The consequences of dropping out of school can have long-term economic and social repercussions. Students who drop out of school in the United States are more likely to be unemployed, homeless, receiving welfare and incarcerated. A four-year study in San Francisco found that 94 percent of young murder victims were high school dropouts.

In the 1960s, "dropping out" was used to mean withdrawing from established society, especially because of disillusionment with conventional values. It is a term commonly associated with the 1960s counterculture and with hippies and communes. See Turn on, tune in, drop out.

In clinical trials, participants may withdraw from the study, for example, due to adverse effects. This is also referred to as dropping out.

Dropout Recovery
A dropout recovery initiative is any community, government, non-profit or business program in which students who have previously left school are sought out for the purpose of re-enrollment. In the United States, such initiatives are often focused on former high school students who are still young enough to have their educations publicly subsidized, generally those 22 years of age and younger.

Dropout recovery programs can be initiated in traditional "brick-and-mortar" institutions of learning, in community centers or online.

Notable drop outs
High school
    The Notorious B.I.G.
    Arthur Shawcross
    Albert Einstein, Luitpold Gymnasium
    Michael Enright (broadcaster)
    Bobby Fischer, Erasmus Hall High School
    Marvin Hewitt
    Beland Honderich
    Duke Kahanamoku, Kamehameha Schools
    Hitomi Kanehara
    Abdel Aziz al-Muqrin
    Juan Carlos Onetti
    Nas
    Eminem
    Wright brothers
    Walt Disney
    Richard Branson
    Dave Thomas (American businessman)
    David H. Murdock
    Carroll A. Campbell, Jr.
    Gurbaksh Chahal
    Tupac Shakur
    Kurt Cobain
    Danny Rolling
    Teddy Pendergrass
    James Earl Ray
    Eazy-E
    Marvin Gaye
    Jay-Z
    Chester Turner
    Frank Lloyd Wright

University
    Woody Allen, New York University
    Michael Dell, University of Texas at Austin
    Arash Ferdowsi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
    Bill Gates, Harvard University
    David Geffen, Santa Monica City College, Brooklyn College, University of Texas at Austin
    John Glenn, Muskingum University
    Steve Jobs, Reed College
    Jack Kerouac, Columbia University,
    Kanye West, Chicago State University
    Alicia Keys, Columbia University
    James Dean, UCLA
    John Steinbeck, Stanford University
    Sylvester Stallone, University of Miami
    Ted Turner, Brown University
    William Faulkner, University of Mississippi
    Anthony Bourdain, Vassar College
    Mark Zuckerberg, Harvard University

Doctorates
    Robin Farquharson