Many Texas teenagers drop out of school every year. Although the drop out rates we hear are often exaggerated, retaining students is still a very large problem for many schools. Reasons for students dropping out are numerous and often complex. Solving this problem often gets confusing and sometimes even seems hopeless. However, the good news is that dropout rates have fallen over the years and continue to do so today.
             More Americans are receiving their high school diploma today than ever before. As early as 1970, only a little over seventy percent of the population finished four years of high school. If I remember correctly, the figures today show that close to ninety percent are completing high school or an equivalent program. Many of the statistics we see do not take into account the number of students who drop out and later return. Furthermore, they do not relate people who art still in school, but did not graduate on time.
             Regardless of what the statistics bear out, students' dropping out before completing high school is obviously still a problem that needs to be addressed. The problem is deciding what needs to be done. In many situations, there is not much the school could do to prevent the student from dropping out. The number one cause of dropouts, especially among girls, is becoming pregnant. This is an issue for males a well. Often times they quit school to get married, or at least help support the child and mother. Some people quit school just because they would rather go ahead and start working. The students that I knew who dropped out in high school all seemed to have this common reason. They had no interest in going to college. They knew they would eventually wind up working the same job whether they finished high school or not. My experiences with peers seem to go against the prevalent view of what a high school drop out is supposed to be. Most that I knew were average to good students. They were not on drugs, ...