Extra Credit 6: "Dropout Nation" (2 hours)

Brendan Forte

Extra Credit (2 hours)

Dropout Nation

Summary

            This Frontline documentary is about Sharpstown High School located in Houston, Texas and the high rate of student dropouts. The documentary describes the situations of four particular students who for the most part, have no guidance pointing them in the right direction. It shows the struggles, and challenges they face daily to stay in school and finally graduate.

Body

            The dropout rate of Sharpstown High School is very high. Teachers and faculty members of the school have a hard time making sure the kids are doing the right thing. They took action everyday to try to keep their students in check. Some examples are faculty members in the hallways making sure they didn’t skip, teachers that showed they cared about how the students were doing, and they even have faculty who prevent dropouts. One woman named Brandi was a dropout prevention worker who helped kids who weren’t doing well in school by making sure they attend school and keep their grades up. Brandi loves her job and goes out of her way to help. She does things such as picking kids up to go to school, or calling parents to find out where the children were if they weren’t in school. The faculty really does try to help their students to stay in school. They try to find major causes of teens that dropout and attempt to fix them so more students don’t make the same mistake.

            The four teens mentioned in the documentary have rough stories. A boy named Marcus had two parents that were alcoholics. He doesn’t have much motivation, but he is a good football player and football keeps him going to school. When football season is over, they see a change in his actions. He doesn’t care about school much, and he starts to slack. The faculty members see potential in Marcus so they try to get him to do well. He ended up getting arrested for possession of marijuana. When was let go, Brandi took him into her home to try to get him to finish school.

            Another case is of a 19 year-old named Lawrence. Lawrence was left back a year already because of his anger issues. Brandi sees that he had a large amount of absences and tries to prevent him from being another dropout. He has no family structure at home and no one is pushing him to get through school. He ended up dropping out but entered a Twilight program. This is a program that the High School created to try to help dropouts recover.

            In a third case, there is an African American Girl named Sparkle. She has no home and no one supporting her. She even told Brandi that she sleeps at friends houses on their couch. She said that she moves from place to place every night and nothing motivates her. She eventually has hopes of becoming a doctor but she doesn’t have help to get her there. She had a son that was taken from her because she was not ready to be a parent. Unfortunately, she dropped out of school.

 Economy

            Many families and children in this area are in poverty. In the documentary, there was a story of a Hispanic boy named Marco. He doesn’t have money and he works very hard to provide for him and his mother. He often works long hours and doesn’t have time to eat. His father was deported back to where he was from and he is afraid because his mother is at risk of being deported as well. Marco has a different story then the other three children mentioned in the video. His mother was motivation to him to push through school and eventually he graduated.

Demography & Geography

Houston, Texas is the third largest city in America. It is highly populated with many Hispanics and African Americans. Many families are poor and cannot afford much. The population is so high, which is also a factor to an extreme dropout rate.

Culture

            This affects many people who are in poverty. There are families who are not supporting their children leading them to dropout of school.

Conclusion

            This documentary has educated me about what is going on in other areas. The dropout rate is extremely high, but the back round information of the children influences that greatly. It is unfortunate to hear that they have no support helping them get through school leading them to a good future. I am fortunate to have support from my family and I hope that the drop out rate decreases in the future.

Bibliography

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/dropout-nation/