Article by Stephanie Perkins | Photography by Leanna Wheatley | Owl Staff
How do you remember your time in high school? When I talk to most of my friends about their high school experience, many of them look back with fond memories. Lunch with friends, senior prom, graduation day – you name it. However, I never remembered my brief time in high school in such a way.
A majority of my time between my two high schools was spent either relentlessly being made fun of and bothered by my peers or staying at home to avoid said harassment and assignments that I never completed. I let my depression pretty much consume my life for about half of my schooling career, and my classmates who didn’t understand and felt the need to make me the object of their jokes didn’t really help much either. After considering all of my options and consulting with several adults, I dropped out right after my 16th birthday.
There’s this ugly stereotype that high school dropouts are moronic, unmotivated individuals that are content with working minimum wage jobs and leeching off the government for the rest of their lives.
However, many who buy into this stereotype don’t bother to accept how successful I am because I’m a high school dropout. I took my GED test five months after I dropped out. Not only did I pass the test, but my score was equivalent to graduating high school with honors. After receiving my GED, I enrolled at HCC when I was 17. I rose through the ranks of the student newspaper staff and became the Editor in Chief as well as a charter member of the Journalism club during my time in college. While I was able to accomplish all of this, the opportunity is dwindling for current students in Maryland’s school system.
In 2015, Maryland will enforce a law that requires a student to be 17 in order to drop out; that age will increase to 18 by 2017. Maryland is currently the only state that responded to President Obama’s recommendation to raise the dropout age in his State of the Union address from January 2012.
“There’s this ugly stereotype that high school dropouts are moronic, unmotivated individuals that are content with working minimum wage jobs and leeching off the government for the rest of their lives.”
While I understand the intention of wanting to keep teenagers in school, it’s not helping those who would actually benefit from dropping out by barring everyone under a certain age. I strongly believe it should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
If they continue to keep the dropout age at 18, I think that anyone under that age should be able to have a hearing with school officials if they want to drop out. I agree that not every student under the age of 18 should have the right to drop out of school, but I believe that if they present good enough reasons and a well-thought-out plan for their future, it should at the very least be considered.
The point is high school isn’t for everyone. I know I wouldn’t be as successful as I am today if I was not given the opportunity to drop out of high school and pursue my GED, and I would hate for that to be out of reach for students who would genuinely benefit from doing so.