The documentary, Dropout Nation , featured on the PBS program, Frontline focuses on the reasons behind the growing dropout cases witnessed in high school throughout the United States. The documentary carefully follows four students attending Sharpstown High School, in Houston, Texas. Dropout Nation aims to demonstrate the causes why these students and many others are at increased risk of dropping out of schools, and the efforts regarding incentives of the school systems and educators to stop this. The film aims to take a closer look at the steadfast determination of four students, namely Marcus, Lawrence, Sparkle, and Marco to remain in school. For these students, staying on campus demands struggling with distressing and sophisticated concerns in their lives at home, including substance use, undocumented parents with criminal records, and homelessness.
One of the first things the viewer notices regarding the four students being followed in Dropout Nation is that all students come from minority groups. The school’s student body is about three percent white, and the prevalence of dropout cases is higher among some students of color, but the choice of these students also could provide the society with the misimpression that dropout is just a problem among some minority groups. Many of Sharpstown’s students come from impoverished backgrounds, especially Blacks and Hispanics. One of the high school employees argues that two-thirds of the challenge they struggle with from learners are external and academics. For the most part, this is what Dropout Nation symbolizes, which is a dramatic emotional strength for it, but it fails to depict the overall view.
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The first student we meet in the film is Marcus, who is fun and interesting. However, Marcus does not often attend school for his first two classes because of family problems. Marcus receives potentially the most screen time of any students. He appears to be one of Brevard’s favorites, and because of his football talents, Marcus has one of the hypothetically straightforward paths to college. Marcus is also charming owing to his regular veering between extreme consciousness.
There is also a teenage girl named Sparkle, who is explicitly charming and intelligent but just as obviously self-protective and unhappy. Lawrence is older, about to graduate, and talented enough to do so. Ultimately, there is Marco, the only student of the four who seems exceedingly defensive or brilliant enough that this must be effortless. It becomes more evident that Marco is the only student who succeeds in school.
Tutors and faculty staff of the Sharpstown High School have a difficult time ensuring the students are doing the right thing. They take action everyday to attempt to keep their students in check. An excellent example involves some faculty members in the hallway ensuring they did not skip school, educators also that show they care about how the learners are faring. Bandi, for example, is committed to ensuring that the dropout rate is minimal, and helps children who are not doing well in school by making sure they attend school and improve their overall grades. It is clear that Bandi loves her job and goes out of her way to help students. The faculty does attempt to help their students in staying in school. They strive to figure out the causes of adolescents that dropout and try to fix so more students do not make the same mistake.
The film takes a friendly approach concerning the uncertain numbers that theoretically document the school’s achievement. It parses the farfetched statistics that are used to interpret the school’s erosion levels. The first year’s academic outcomes of Apollo’s 20 program are moderate. The PBS links to a report in which twists the information as if the turnover of most Sharpstown’s educators was a clever maneuver.
Policymakers can begin to avoid the problem of dropping out by drafting master plans that support State Compensatory Education (SCE), which involves an assortment or programs or services intended to supplement the standard education program for learners identified as at-risk of dropping out of school. The primary goal of SCE is to boost student academic attainment on state evaluations and alleviate the dropout cases of recognizes at-risk students. The purpose is to offer a challenging and meaningful teaching program to seal the gap between vulnerable children and their peers.
In summary, there is also a self-assurance that permeates the film, which implies that achieving success is possible. More funding and gallant endeavors by teachers might have a positive impact on the majority of low-performing and poverty-stricken learners. For the most part, it is still not clear how to boost efforts for the most susceptible children in a challenging learning institution, but the achievements in the documentary highlight an effective strategy. The main take away from Dropout Nation documentary is that enhancing the education system must be aligned with the improvement of the society as a whole, in spite of how difficult some of the best individuals try. The trying is hopeful, but the link to poverty is demoralizing.
