High Dropout of Students in the University - Research Proposal Example

What are the facts that lead none completion at A dropout is an individual who does not complete his or her education by earning a high school diploma. The number of people dropping out of high school is on the rise. Looking at the rising trend in the rate of the dropout, it is evident that students leaving the high school without completing the education are likely to become a burden to the society rather than becoming a productive and healthy part of it.. The people who dropout from the high school are becoming victim of social vices like crime, drugs, assault and random violence. Parents are finding themselves helpless as they are not able to do anything about it. However, dropping out of school is not a random phenomenon. Every action has a reason behind it. The reason can be psychological, social or personal. To prevent students from leaving their education incomplete, it is a responsibility of the society and the educational institutes to find out the reason behind students dropping out of the school and work out an effective and permanent solution for it. If not taken care of on time, this problem can become a major obstacle in the progress of the country. This research is an attempt undertaken to understand the reason for the students dropping out of the school. Give balance University drop-out rates have reached their highest level for three years, according to annual figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency. The data shows that the proportion of undergraduates in the UK who failed to complete their first year at university increased by 0.3 per cent to 7.4 per cent in 2006-07, the year the government raised top-up fees to £3,000. (http://www.studentloans.co.uk/news/2009). In England, 7.1 per cent failed to complete their first year, compared with 6.7 per cent prior to the student fees increase.(ibid) In contrast, between 15 per cent and 19 per cent of students at the universities of Greenwich, Sunderland, Bolton and London Metropolitan failed to complete their first year, while one in five studying at the University of Ulster dropped out (ibid). I have a personal experience of this problem. I have two brothers who left university and caused great pain for my parents, but when they grew up they realized that the university was the most important thing in their life. Even though we know that “university is the best thing”, why we drop out of college? That fact is that, we drop out from the University or college for many reasons. A University dropout has many reasons , for example some students dropout from the university because they didnt like schools in general, they were failing, getting poor grades, and could not keep up with school work. Relationship with the teachers and the staff also playa a vital role in the decisions of dropping out. Not getting along with teachers, having problems with the disciplinary rules, getting suspended or expelled are some of the important reasons given by dropouts for their decisions of leaving.. Another reason is that they want to be independent. Students, sometimes, drop out of university because they are involved in a bad company and follow the actions of their friends. Teenage pregnancy has also contributed to the increase in the rate of dropout. The teenage mother doesnt want to deal with the embarrassment or problem of going to school pregnant. Having a child does not give them time to attend classes and moreover, they cannot afford childcare services. So there are many social, personal and school factors that lead to the students dropping out of school. The lack of education leads the person to have maladjustment with the society and hence it not only affects the personal life of a dropout but also affects the society as a whole. According to the study conducted by Education Week (2006), high school dropouts results in number of problems for the society. According to the report, the dropouts are more likely to commit crime, get imprisoned, earns approximately $260,000 less than a graduate over a lifetime, remain unemployed, will be less healthy, have no health insurance and will not pay tax. It also says that even a 1% decrease in the dropout rate can lead to reduction of cost of crime to victims by $1.4 billion (Gray pp34-35) . evidence This project aims to investigate the reasons for students dropping out of universities without finishing their higher education. My motive for doing this project is a desire to reach the depths of the problem of teenage school dropouts and find out the real cause behind. One of my brothers left school at age seventeen and other at the age of twenty. This personal experience is also a drive behind me doing this project and find out what makes teenagers to leave school without completing studies. I have discussed the difficulties that were faced by both of my brothers  and other students, and have come up with solutions for it.    I interviewed 5 teenagers who lived in London and left university. These 5 teens that I have interviewed were from London metropolitan university, they are from different countries, two are from Algeria, one from italy and the last person is from Bosnia and they had different reasons for leaving university and not continuing their education. After I did the interviews with them, I chose five salient reasons why students leave university and discuss the problem and find the solutions for them. The people that I have intervewed are: 1. Mimi 21 from Bosnia, she started londonmet in 2008 but did not finish her second year, she is getting married this summer so she droped in her second year 2. Marwan 25 from Italy, he started londonmet in 2008 and did not finish his first year, he is a married man and has 1 baby girl. 3. Zaki from Algeria, he started londonmet in 2007 (networking) and failed and left 4. Hicham from Italy, he started Londonmet in 2006 and left (Mathematics) he did not get support from his parents 5. Somia from Algeria who was not able to finish her final year because she had a baby Research Methodology Research in educational setting is an opportunity for the students to collect information related to the topic of their choice. In conducting an educational research, there are many issues involved. The student is required to be aware of the education research method in order to conduct a research (Tuckman, 1988). The most employed methods for researching are qualitative, quantitative, experimental, co-relational and many others. The research methodologies that are preferred over others are qualitative and quantitative (Tuckman, 1988). I chose qualitative methodology for researching on my topic that is “High Dropout” and my major research tool was interviews. Along with interviewing the respondents, I also generated a demographic questionnaire that was to collect relevant details concerning the respondents. Qualitative Research The methodology adopted for this research is qualitative research. Through qualitative research, the results are not obtained in numeric data. Qualitative methods are employed to gather qualitative information. Qualitative methods include qualitative interviews, direct observation and case study. Qualitative research is usually conducted for the disciplines of anthropology, history, sociology and geography (Adler 1994). It can be conducted for other disciplines as well but these are the ones, which are most suitable for qualitative research. Qualitative research is helpful in identifying limitations and boundaries of a field of study (Patton 1990). Qualitative interviews can be taken in form of verbal interviews and can also be developed in form of questionnaires (Adler 1994). Direct observation deals with direct interaction with the research material such as videos, pictures and eye witnessed events and incidents. Case studies is a wholesome research strategy that takes into consideration different methods of researching for the assemblage of information related to individuals, organizations, centres of population, businesses and social institutions (Adler 1994). In qualitative interviewing, much consideration is given to interviewees’ point of view. In qualitative interviews, the answers to the questions asked by the interviewer are much detailed and explanatory unlike the interviews of quantitative research (Kvale 1996). The qualitative research interview seeks to describe and the meanings of central themes in the life world of the subjects. The main task in interviewing is to understand the meaning of what the interviewees say. (Kvale,1996) Qualitative methods can be employed with other research methods. The results that come up after qualitative research methodology are considered as reliable because they have come up from authentic sources and people (Patton 1990).. The interviews that are conducted in qualitative research are also required to be tapped because the answers are given in descriptive forms and the interviewer can miss significant information (Kvale 1996). Therefore, taping the interview is also a need of qualitative research. Interview as a Source of Qualitative Research I opted to interview five students who started London Metropolitan University and did not finish their studies. These five students are between the age 19 and 23. These students are from different countries, some are from Algeria, some from Turkey Interview is regarded as a reliable source of qualitative research through which, relevant data for the research can be collected. The questions that were asked in the interview were related to the students and the problem they faced in their educational life and why they decided not to finish their higher education. The reasons for their dropout were asked and their difficulties, which they faced. Interviews are a good source of information as the interviewer not only listens to the answers given by the interviewees but also notices their body language (Foddy 1993). The interviewer is able to get advantageous data by means of informed knowledge by the help of interviewing and also by noticing the facial expressions and other bodily movements of the interviewee. For interviews, the questions that are to be asked are previously analyzed and settled in order to face no problem while interviewing. I also had selected several questions for the interview that I asked all the interviewees. A study conducted by Bridgeland, Dilulio, & Morrison(2006) found that the strong reason behind the students dropping out of the school is that they do not find the classes interesting enough and do not find any relevance between what they learn and what career they choose (Gray p.35). When the students were asked what could help them to stay in school rather than dropping out, they said that they will find school interesting if they are taught the courses that are relevant to their future career life(Gray p.36). On the basis of these findings, I structured the questions for my interview. The rationale behind the questions was to know if the courses they are doing are their choice and if they are enjoying what they are learning. Any rationale behind these questions? Relate to reading . Interview Schedule 1. Which year did you join London metropolitan university? 2. Which course were you pursuing there? 3. Was this course sponsored or did you get any scholarship? 4. Why did you aspire to do this course? 5. Why did you choose London metropolitan university to pursue this course? 6. What influenced your decision to choose this course? 7. Were your expectations from the course? 8. Were these expectations met? 9. Do you consider the decision of choosing this course was correct? If not, why? 10. When did you leave the university? 11. What were the reasons for not continuing your education there? 12. Were your family supportive toward this decision? 13. Are you planning to pursue a course in another university? If yes, then do you want to take up a different course this time? 14. What are you involved with now? 15. What is your vision towards a career? Literature review It is important to increase young people, adult and the society awareness about class differences, as class intervenes in individual choices. Class differences leads to unequal opportunities. People from middle and upper class background can have better education, houses, jobs, and higher standard of life. Middle class children have the money and support that assist them to get to the higher education. Parents who come from middle class background involve themselves in their children’s education and influence their children’s education as most of them educated and financially capable to send their children to higher schools, colleges and universities level. As debated by Gazette, Middle class students have higher standard of English than the working class. One study of language acquisition, he said, showed that, ‘by age 3, the children of professionals had vocabularies of about 1,100 words; those of parents on welfare had mastered only 525 words. The difference was reflected in IQ scores: an average of 117 for the first group, and 79 for the second’. According to Corydon Ireland, (2007, www.news.harvard.edu/gazette) Working class parents cannot always provide high quality of education to their children as much as middle class parents can. Having low income the working class parents encourage their children to work instead of going to a higher education as for them, having a financial support is more important than having a social success. Working class students have harder financially life than other. Some of them work to help their family or they just support themselves financially. However, while working-class parents see the value of education, they may not be able to give as much support to their children’s education as middle-class parents. As Hatcher (1998) says: ‘Actual probabilities of success at given levels of attainment are higher for middle-class pupils ... because of their parents’ greater cultural capital, as measured by parental education levels. Parental cultural capital enhances success probability through two mechanisms. One is knowledge about the education system, which facilitates strategic behavior ... The second mechanism is the more effective help that middle-class parents are able to give with their children’s school work. In addition, the social networks among higher-class children and parents are effective in facilitating diffusion processes of information about education and destinations, practical help and support, and shared aspirations for higher levels of education’. Hatcher (1998), p.10. Working class students felt unsupported by their parents and teachers. In contrast, middle class parents are supportive. Most of the middle class parents and grandparents are educated therefore they appreciate education. However the main reasons behind the low achievements of working class students that they are unsupported by their parents and gender reason. Moreover teachers should understand that working class students have low self-confidence that came from their life history could have an effect on their educational choice. They also have to support working class students to be involved in higher education. Family support “The family background and social context are the primary influence in determining children’s achievement” (New York University, 1989) The researchers concluded that families could influence their children’s achievement. Parents are naturally supportive to their children. However not all of the parents involve in their children’s education. On the other hand, many parents involve in their childrens elementary and secondary education to support them as they are aware of the good effect behind their support and how it necessary and permissible, ‘for their own actions with and on behalf of children’ (Kathleen V. Hoover-Dempsey and Howard M. Sandleer, Vanderbilt University. 1997). Parents play an important role in shaping young people’s attitudes to education. They are also probably the most important source of advice and help when decisions. Other family members, particularly brothers and sisters, are also useful sources of information about post-16 options, (http://www.ericdigests.org/family.htm) However most of the students do not receive informal support from their families, this has effect on their achievement, ‘School pupils are affected by family attitudes towards the value of schooling. In some cases the family (or at least one parent) exerts such a powerful influence that this exceeds that of culture or class.’ Mortimore (1991), p.22. When children are failing to learn well at school or leaving school, it means that children are not being properly cared for at home and so when the child that isn’t performing well at school is mostly not well cared for at home.The issue is that their home life does not necessarily equip them for a learning environment, perhaps it can be a part of the reason but not the only reason in making children blaming it for their failure. (http://www.brunel.ac.uk) After 1980s, there was increasing concern about the quality of education in this country. Therefore, parents were concern about their children’s achievement, so parents were encouraged to support their children academically. As Cotton K and Reed K debated, parent started to involve in Educational Schools to improve their children’s education. (Cotton K and Reed K Wikelund, 1989) ((SIRS), ( www.nwrel.org ) The research overwhelmingly presents parent involvement in childrens learning is positively related to achievement. The research also shows that the more intensively parents are involved in their childrens learning, the more beneficial are the achievement effects. This holds true for all sorts of parent involvement in childrens learning and for all sorts and ages of students. (ibid) High school graduates, on the other hand, provide both economic and social benefits to society. In addition to earning higher wages, which results in attendant benefits to local, state, and national economic conditions, high school graduates live longer (Muennig, 2005), are less likely to be teen parents (Haveman et al., 2001), and are more likely to raise healthier, better-educated children. In fact, children of parents who graduate from high school are themselves far more likely to graduate from high school than are children of parents without a high school degree (Wolfe & Haveman, 2002). High school graduates are also less likely to commit crimes (Raphael, 2004), rely on government health care (Muennig, 2005), or use other public services such as food stamps or housing assistance (Garfinkel et al., 2005). Additionally, high school graduates engage in civic activity, including voting and volunteering in their communities, at higher levels (Junn, 2005). In a recent survey of high school dropouts, respondents indicated that they felt alienated at school and that no one even noticed if they failed to show up for class. High school dropouts also complained that school did not reflect real-world challenges. More than half of respondents said that the major reason for dropping out of high school was that they felt their classes were uninteresting and irrelevant (Bridgeland & di Iulio, 2006). Others leave because they are not doing well academically; only about 30 percent of high school students read proficiently, which generally means that as the material in their textbooks becomes increasingly challenging, they drop ever further behind. Social Support : The concept of social support has a great potential to help students understand the value of education and complete their education successfully ( Drennon-Gala p.19). This concept had an aid of inner containment believing that if a person is content with his life, he will not engage in deviations from the society like drugs, crime, violence and alcohol etc. The sensitivity from teachers and parents have found to be most crucial in reducing the behaviour problems among the young people. If there was no support then the young people feel helpless and left out and engage themselves in delinquent behaviour. They get influenced by their friends who live on street and lead a ‘rule’ free life. This leads to them dropping out of school and engage in anti-social acts. Bonding of children with their parents and the teachers have proved to be an important element in healthy development of a child. The emotional attachment and love that a child gets in the infancy plays a vital part in development of his emotional and psychological aspect. This in turn plays an important role in the education of a child ( Drennon-Gala p.24). It is found in the study that the people who he is attached with matters a lot as it influences his decisions regarding his education and behaviour patterns. Single Parenting: A child is a product of both, man and a woman. Nature has endowed them both with different qualities and hence responsibilities. Man is responsible for working and earning the livelihood for the family and provide financial support while woman is responsible for taking care of home and children and provide emotional support. Child imitates what his parents do. He watches is father and learns the responsibility of society and by watching his mother he learns to be caring and loving. Father is the one who is a role model for a child for becoming a responsible citizen by getting educated, following rules, taking responsibility of a family by working and creating a social status. However, with the phenomenon of single motherhood, the child is completely missing out on having a role model who will teach him how to be a man of family, how to take responsibilities of people around him, how to become financially independent and how to have a respectable position in the society. Society does not look at a single mother with respect. No matter how modern the society calls itself, it still does not accept single motherhood as a part of a healthy social structure. Single mothers, mostly, live in a neighbourhood that is not conducive for development of a healthy and respectable human being. For a mother to be loving and caring towards her child, she has to experience love, care, respect, financial freedom and healthy social acceptance. However, as single mothers become busy earning a livelihood for themselves and become cold towards their children because of the hardships they suffer in life, the children end up being neglected and lack the love from their mother. And not just that, the absence of father makes the matter worse and they are left to look after themselves. Children of single mother and mostly from the poor neighbourhood take up to street and start becoming wild. They lack the value system as they don’t have parents who can inculcate it in them. Their life become meaningless. They get involved with the gangs on the street and start building their values imitation the anti-social members of the gangs. Instead of modeling respectable and working people, they start modeling people who commit crimes, indulge in drugs, act rowdy and lead a life which does not have morals. These children, because of lack of adequate parentage, start committing crimes ( Murray p17-53) . Education as compulsion: Students and parents attitude towards education has changed a lot. Students are considering High School education as more of a compulsion and a burden from society than a need or necessity. Parents are kind of responsible for this attitude as today’s parents think that once their children get educated from the Collage, their responsibility is over. There is no sense of warmth, love and bonding among the parents these days (Gray p.26) The main issue is to clearly focus the reading on the population being researched. London Met has a different social profile to other universities. The reason for drops outs will be to some extent different to those at Cambridge University and probably substantially more. Have you considered the route that students took to get to university? You discuss class but have you really developed this theme. What about work by Basil Bernstein? What about issues about ethnicity and equal opportunitites? References Muennig, P. (2005). “Health returns to education interventions.” Paper prepared for the symposium on the Social Costs of Inadequate Education, Teachers College Columbia University, October 2005. Haveman, R., Wolfe, B., & Wilson, K. (2001). “Childhood events and circumstances influencing high school completion.” Demography, 28(1). Junn, J. (2005). “The political costs of unequal education.” Paper prepared for the symposium on the Social Costs of Inadequate Education, Teachers College Columbia University, October 2005. Bridgeland, J., & di Iulio, J. (2006). The silent epidemic: Perspectives of high school dropouts. Washington, DC: Civic Enterprises. Garfinkel, I., Kelly, B., & Waldfogel, J. (2005). “Public assistance programs: How much could be saved with improved education?” Paper prepared for the symposium on the Social Costs of Inadequate Education, Teachers College Columbia University, October 2005 Charles Murray. The Emerging British Underclass ( pp 17-53). Retrieved on April 23, 2009 from http://www.civitas.org.uk/pdf/cw33.pdf Drennon-Gala, Don. (1995). Delinquency and high school dropouts. University Press Of America. Gray, Kenneth. (2008) Getting Real. Corwin Press Read More