In America’s big cities, the high school dropout rate is as high as 50% and it’s not much better in rural areas either. Even though education is important as the first step towards getting a job that pays a decent wage, half of the kids who start high school as ninth graders don’t finish all the way to the end of their senior year. Why not?

Here are the main reasons why kids drop out:

They are older than other kids in their grade, either because they started late, were held back a year or two, or failed courses they had to repeat.

• They don’t have enough credits to graduate even though they’ve been enrolled in high school for four years. They failed courses, took the wrong courses, or skipped too many classes.
• They don’t see the value of finishing because the best jobs in their neighborhoods are minimum-wage jobs they could get even without a high school diploma.
• They’ve been kicked out of their homes or their families are homeless. Without a permanent place to live, only the most determined kids can finish school.
• They don’t fit in. Socially, intellectually, or creatively they just don’t “get” high school and are happier out of it.

Some of these problems are within your control. You can help your kid figure out the credits he needs to graduate and make sure he gets those. You can help your child have high aspirations and realize that she can do great things if she just persists. You can make certain your teen feels welcome at home and do what you can to help him feel welcome at school.

Teens are short-sighted. They sometimes don’t see the value of high school and don’t realize how important a high school diploma might be in opening doors in the future. So you have to help your teen hang in there. But notice this: kids who drop out of school are not stupid. Instead, most dropouts are capable – even exceptional – kids, who needed more support than they got.

Kids who don’t complete high school aren’t necessarily doomed to the School of Hard Knocks. Hard work, pursuit of a passion, good social skills and a few lucky breaks can take a kid a long way.  Here are some famously successful people who dropped out of school:

• Wendy’s franchise founder Dave Thomas
• Singer Christina Aguilera
• Musician Tom Petty
• ABC News anchor Peter Jennings
• Actor Johnny Depp
• Virgin Atlantic Airways founder Richard Branson
• Entertainment empire builder Walt Disney
• Theory of Relativity creator Albert Einstein

But for every millionaire dropout there are a hundred who look back with regret. Deciding to stay in high school long enough to graduate is the first big decision most teenagers make, and they sometimes make the decision to drop out without really thinking. Do what you can to support and guide your teen.

Help your kid be a high school grad.

© 2012, Patricia Nan Anderson.  All rights reserved.

For some families, this question is a no-brainer. “Yes, my kid should get a job because our family has to have the extra income.”  In the perilous economy of the past several years, many hard-working parents rely on their equally hard-working teens to make ends meet. Kids who can shoulder this sort of responsibility without resentment deserve a lot of credit.

But for many families, teen income is spent only on teen desires. And for these families, taking a job to support teens’ purchasing power can be an issue. On the one hand, parents want to be able to say, “If you want that, you’ll have to pay for it yourself.” On the other hand, parents know that to do a good job in school and be prepared for a good-paying job in the future, teens need to devote only the minimum time now to minimum-wage jobs.

What’s the answer?

The answer is that it pays to pay attention to your teen’s job choices. Here are some discouraging facts about teen work:

1. Most teen workers are supervised by other teens. They’re not being mentored by role-model adults.
2. Many teen jobs encourage slacker behavior instead of good work habits. Ways to look busy without doing anything, how to take long breaks and even how to sabotage an employer are part of the teen job scene.
3. Many teen jobs are dangerous. Jobs operating machinery, construction jobs, and delivery jobs are actually prohibited for teens but are among the jobs teens take.
4. Teens who work tend to get less sleep than other kids and do less well in school.
5. Most income earned by teens is spent on consumer goods and entertainment. National studies show that only a very small percentage of teen income is saved for college.
6. To make enough after-tax income to buy the things teens crave requires more minimum-wage hours than can be fit into the end of a school day.

But summertime work can be valuable if chosen carefully. Here are some ideas for guiding your teen in finding work this summer.

1. Try to find work that is more an apprenticeship than just a job. A position in a computer firm, law office, special education unit, or design company may add to your kid’s education instead of interfering with it.
2. Choose work that plays to a teen’s strengths. Everyone else might be working at the mall but thinking beyond what’s conventional might lead to work that is more interesting to your teen (and easier to get out of bed for).
3. Find work that fits your teen’s lifestyle. How many hours a week does she want to work and does she want to work later in the day or earlier? Indoors or outdoors? Does she want to walk to work, take the bus, or will she need a ride (or a car)? What sort of clothes or equipment will she need for the job she’s thinking of?
4. How much money does your teen want to make and what will he use it for? Having clear goals will help make the work more tolerable and will help him stay focused, and will help him see what sort of work and how many hours will get him to those goals.
5. If your teen can’t find the work she wants, can she find an unpaid volunteer position? Or can she start a mini-business of her own? These sorts of jobs can give her valuable experience and provide great ways to organize the summer. And both will look good on a college application.

Real-life experience is valuable and can give a teen a great view of the adult world. But help your kid to choose wisely. Finding a summer job can be a good idea for your teen, but only if the job builds character and develops useful life skills.

© 2012, Patricia Nan Anderson.  All rights reserved.