New York: Teachers College Press, 1996. xviii+222 pages. ISBN 0-8077-3541-8 (pbk.)
Debating Dropouts consists of papers prepared for a conference designed to debate social, economic, and policy issues associated with early school leaving. It is divided into three loosely-defined sections: general policy, specific research on dropping out and returning to school, and differing perspectives. The editors have tried to fill in the necessary background to the issues and to rationalize the selection and classification of the papers.
As a reader may expect in such collections, not all papers focus directly on the basic theme, nor do they actually "debate" the issues. The topic is important, and the questions associated with it deserve serious study, but that discussion is not found in this volume. The editors nobly attempt to provide the missing content and appropriate references, but the spaces are too great to fill. However, their discussions of the stigmatization of the dropout, the creation of the in-school dropout, and the effort to make secondary schools responsible for providing youth with the skills required to make Canada more competitive, are particularly enlightening. Furthermore, the papers have been prepared by both Canadian and U.S. authors working from the assumption that the main issue is the same in both countries, that is, that a greater number of secondary school graduates will lead to a better-prepared workforce, which in turn makes the economy of the country more globally competitive. However, there are fundamental differences between the two countries in the structure of the education system, the funding of education, and the relationship between the school and business and industry, and those differences should have been examined.
These comments are not meant to disparage the quality of the papers included in the book, because they are mostly well-written and effectively conceptualized. Kari Dehli offers an incisive analysis of recent Canadian government policy documents designed to reduce the number of dropouts. Although the research on dropout prevention programs and their context is thin, the case studies by Margaret D. LeCompte and Deirdre M. Kelly are useful illustrations. Harvey Krahn and Julian Tanner present a detailed characterization of the post-school employment experiences of early school leavers. More examples of this type of research would have provided readers with a much greater understanding of both the reality of being a dropout and also the role the education system plays in encouraging students to leave school prematurely.
George J. Dei's case study of Black youth trying to find meaning in Toronto schools adds substance to the sense of alienation experienced by youth as part of the process of dropping out. Paul Anisef and Lesley Andres show first how a Canadian stay-in-school initiative was constructed in response to a "manufactured" crisis, and then place it in an historical framework. On the same issue, Leslie G. Roman examines effectively the language and meaning behind the Canadian government strategy to frame dropouts in the context of an economic problem. But some articles are peripheral to the issue of dropouts -- for example, the discussion of life-long learning (i.e., the need for upgrading, or retraining for career change) is more ideological than research-based.
What would have been particularly helpful is an analysis of characteristics of the Canadian and U.S. education systems that encourage dropping out, and a description of the dynamics of dropping out. Let me try to provide some examples of what I mean, using some Canadian research.
In Canadian provinces, secondary school students are rarely differentiated according to program and career destination (they may, however, be streamed according to the level of difficulty of the courses they take). In contrast, the most common practice in education systems throughout the world is to place students in specialized programs or special schools whose primary purpose is to prepare students for different types of careers. Although this sorting typically occurs in secondary school, it may take place in much earlier grades, as is the case in Germany and Austria. Even countries with a student-centred, social democratic orientation introduce this formal vocational sorting at some stage in the secondary school years. For example, in both Sweden and Denmark, the decision point is at the end of Grade 10 (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 1993). Although this approach to program differentiation does not necessarily result in fewer dropouts, it does lead to far more specific career preparation in countries that do this than in Canada. In this country, the sorting of students is much less formal and typically based on individual timetables of courses offered at different levels of difficulty.
Specific programs, and requirements as to when they must be undertaken, are conspicuously absent in Canadian secondary schools. Colleges and universities provide most of the available vocational or professional education. As a result, both secondary school graduates and, of course, dropouts are poorly prepared for the world of work. If one compares post-secondary school aspirations of Grade 10 students in countries such as Sweden, Germany, and Canada, the most notable difference is that Canadian students are far more likely to plan on university (King & Peart, 1996; King, Wold, Tudor-Smith, & Harel, 1996). But the aspirations of young people in the other countries are far more likely to correspond with their realization than is the case in Canada. Generally speaking, the more rigid the sorting process and the more clearly defined the program, the more efficient will be the interface between secondary school and work. When the sorting process is informal and unstructured, the student has greater difficulty in determining where he or she stands in identifying career goals, and there is a greater likelihood that he or she will continue to take university-bound courses beyond the point of such goals being attained. As a result of this vague competitive sorting, students are forced to leave school. Far behind their peers in credit accumulation, they drop out because they cannot see a way of graduating in a reasonable time (King, Warren, Michalski, & Peart, 1988). Although most early school leavers directly or indirectly blame the school, the reality is that the system is best designed to prepare a relatively small percentage of students for post-secondary education; it leaves the others with little in the way of preparation for the next stage of their life. Marks facilitate both this sorting process and university and college admissions decisions. Subjects such as English, mathematics, and science represent hurdles that must be successfully cleared if students are to progress to graduation.
Students do not leave school because they want to -- they are well aware of the economic and social implications of school leaving. In our survey of school dropouts, my colleagues and I found that the vast majority had either vague or specific plans to upgrade their education (King, Beazley, et al., 1988; King, Warren, et al., 1988). They only leave when the likelihood of graduation approaches zero. The students who remain to graduate but not necessarily go on to post-secondary education recognize the value of the secondary school graduation diploma as a first-level employment screen. However, the courses such students typically select provide the easiest route to graduation rather than some form of career preparation.
School-to-work transitions are notoriously weak in Canada because there is no tradition or legislation supporting co-operation between schools and business or industry (King & Peart, 1996). Although there are many examples of collaboration between specific businesses and schools, they are not generalizable and definitely not the norm. As a result, the transition from school to work tends to be very uncertain, and the preparation for work lacks specificity. There is also a layer of part-time work in the service sector that many young people enter while they are students and often continue in after they have graduated. This work, usually in fast-food restaurants and mall stores, is relatively low-paid and without career prospects. This phenomenon actually inhibits effective school-to-work transitions.
In this environment, and with the stigma attached to dropping out, the decision to drop out is not easy, and it is not surprising to find that the actual process of leaving is long and painful.
Although this discussion may suggest that there is a simple answer to the question of how to make secondary schools more functional in terms of career preparation and to reduce the dropout rate, such a conclusion would be very misleading. If North American society requires that schools minimize streaming to avoid the appearance of discrimination against some ethnocultural groups, and if there is no pressure directed toward business and industry to develop stronger ties with schools, then very little can be done to attain higher retention rates and better preparation for the labour market. Although reducing dropouts can be accomplished by reducing academic expectations, at least for the lower-achieving third of students -- that is, by reducing course failure rates to enable students to graduate -- such a policy would not only make curriculum less relevant but also develop habits in young people that will not translate well to the work setting.
In summary, these policy, research, and analytical papers are useful in examining issues around to early school leaving. Although they are not comprehensive, they do provide a useful resource to supplement more basic work on the issues.
References
King, A. J. C., Beazley, R. P., Warren, W. K., Hankins, C. A., Robertson, A. S., & Radford, J. L. (1988). The Canada youth and AIDS study. Kingston, ON: Queen's University, Social Program Evaluation Group.
King, A. J. C., & Peart, M. J. (1996). Factors inhibiting the transition of youth to work and to adulthood. In B. Galaway & J. Hudson (Eds.), Youth in transition: Perspectives on research and policy (pp. 162-177). Toronto: Thompson Educational.
King, A. J. C., Warren, W. K., Michalski, C., & Peart, M. J. (1988). Improving student retention in Ontario secondary schools. Toronto: Ontario Ministry of Education.
King, A. J. C., Wold, B., Tudor-Smith, C., & Harel, Y. (1996). The health of youth: A cross-national survey. Albany, NY: World Health Organization.
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. (1993). Education at a glance: OECD indicators. Paris: Author.
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