Reading_for_the_Real_World_1_2nd_Ed
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U N I T 4 Social Issues 1
High School Dropout Rates
on the Rise
Pre-Reading Questions
Think about the following questions.
1.What is the high school dropout rate in your city?
2.What are some reasons why a student may drop out of high school?
3.What are some ways to decrease the number of high school dropouts?
Vocabulary Preview
Match each word or phrase with the correct definition.
1. |
convince |
a. to abandon an attempt or activity |
2. |
diploma |
b. a report that examines and analyzes a topic |
3. |
drop out |
c. a document certifying graduation |
4. |
economy |
d. the condition of economic life |
5. |
philanthropic |
e. to persuade |
6. |
study |
f. characterized by acts of goodwill |
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High School Dropout Rates on the Rise 
Track 13
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ow many students drop out of high school in the United States? |
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Nobody seems to know with certainty, but statistics indicate it might |
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Hbe a lot more than most people think. Recent studies have found that |
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only about 75 percent of all high school freshmen receive a high school diploma |
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and that in the fifty largest US cities, the number falls to 52 percent–barely more |
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than half. Previous studies had shown that 85 percent of all high school students |
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graduated. The US now has the highest dropout rate of all industrialized |
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countries. It is estimated that more than 1 million students drop out of high |
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school every year, or 7,000 each school day. According to one study, America is |
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the only industrialized nation in which children are less likely to graduate |
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from high school than their parents. |
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The rising dropout rate has alarmed both educators and economists. In |
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this age of advanced technology, education is more important than ever. To get a |
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good job, workers need to know how to read. They must be able to quickly |
15calculate complex math problems. High school dropouts hurt not only themselves but also the American economy. They hinder America’s ability to compete against the rest of the world. A worker without a high school diploma earns an estimated $300,000 less in his or her lifetime than a high school graduate. A dropout has less spending money to help the economy and less to pay the
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government in the form of taxes. Because the government collects less tax |
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money, it cannot pay as much to retired |
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people who have worked hard their entire lives. |
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One report estimated that high school dropouts |
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in one recent school year will cost the US almost |
25$330 billion. In addition, dropouts are more likely to get into trouble. They often rely on
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freshman --- a student in his or her first year of high school or college |
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industrialized --- well-developed; stable |
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educator --- a person who works in the education field |
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economist --- a specialist in economic matters |
15calculate --- to figure out; to solve
16hinder --- to cause delay
18 graduate --- someone who has finished high school or college
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prisoner --- a person in prison |
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mayor --- the head of city government |
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campaign --- coordinated actions to achieve a result |
government welfare programs, which are funded by American taxpayers. Studies have shown that as much as 75 percent of all prisoners in the United States, for example, did not finish high school.
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Several cities have formed programs to help high school dropouts. In |
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Houston, Texas, volunteers---including the mayor---go to dropouts’ homes and |
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try to convince these students to give school another try. More than 5,000 city |
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dropouts have returned to the classroom since the program started in 2004. In |
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Virginia, a private business has donated money to open two non-traditional |
35schools for high school students who are struggling in conventional schools and are likely to drop out. And in Washington, D.C., a private welfare agency has started a program to help dropouts learn job skills.
Now there is a new national campaign to reduce American dropout rates. A group called the Promise Alliance is giving money to several states. It wants
40each state to develop a plan for increasing its graduation rates. Alliance leaders hope that all fifty states will have a plan in place by the year 2010. The campaign is funded by both businesses and philanthropic organizations. It aims to unite government and business leaders with parents and educators. “The key is to
start working together,” said Marguerite Kondracke, president and CEO of
45Promise Alliance. “We need to recognize that by working together, we can make enormous strides to ensure that our children succeed.”
Reading Time |
_______ minutes _______ seconds |
547 words |
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Reading Comprehension
AMark each statement as either true (T) or false (F) according to the reading.
1.____ The US has the highest dropout rate of all industrialized countries.
2.____ The new national campaign is funded by the government.
3.____ The majority of prisoners in the US did not finish high school.
4.____ High school dropouts cost the US economy billions of dollars a year.
BChoose the best answer.
1.The mayor of which city visits homes of dropouts to persuade them to go back to school?
a.Washington, D.C.
b.New York
c.Houston
d.Los Angeles
2.Which of the following was NOT a statistic in the reading passage
for the number of high school dropouts recorded in the United States?
a.52 percent
b.75 percent
c.80 percent
d.85 percent
3.Which of the following groups was NOT mentioned in the new campaign of working together?
a.educators
b.business leaders
c.parents
d.economists
CFor the next two questions, look for the answers in the passage and write them on the lines provided.
1.Why is getting an education important?
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
2.Why is the rising high school dropout rate bad for the economy?
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
Summary
Fill in the blanks in the table with the sentences below according to the category they belong to. Use each sentence only once.
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High School Dropouts |
Problems |
Solutions |
1.Businesses and philanthropic organizations are funding campaigns to increase graduation rates.
2.High school dropouts put a strain on the economy.
3.Volunteers go to dropouts’ homes to try and convince them to go back to school.
4.Recent studies state that barely half of the students in the fifty largest cities in the United States graduate from high school.
5.High school dropouts also hurt their chance of getting a good job.
6.Promise Alliance is giving money to several states for them to develop their own plans to decrease the number of high school dropouts.
Vocabulary Extension
Here are six words that are related to the topic but are not in the reading. Fill in each blank with the best word from the list. Use each word only once.
enact |
pedagogy |
administration |
credit |
fosters |
tuition |
1.The University’s decision to raise __________ made many students angry because they feel the cost of attendance is already too high.
2.Assistant principals aid the principals with the overall __________ of the school.
3.Because he was always absent for class, the teacher decided to fail him. So, he did not receive __________ for the class.
4.The government should __________ a law that gives more money to schools.
5.Every teacher has a(n) __________, or style of teaching, that they follow when instructing in the classroom.
6.The classroom should be an environment that __________ learning.
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Supplemental Reading
What Does “Dropout” Really Mean?
Track 14
One popular saying in America is that “there are lies, damn lies, and statistics.” This means that statistics are often deceiving. Statistical numbers reveal facts that appear to be true but, in reality, mask a
truth that is much more complicated.
5 Many researchers think this is the case with dropout statistics. National high school dropout rates are difficult to accurately determine for several reasons. First, each state records dropouts differently. There is no national standard for what
10the term “dropout” means. Some students “drop
out” of one school after their freshman year and then go to another school to finish their high school career. Others do not finish high school but later take a special test and receive a General Education Diploma, or GED, which is equivalent to a high school diploma.
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Statistical discrepancies can cause confusion. For example, several studies have recently claimed that the US high school dropout rate is about 25 percent. But the National Center for Education Statistics showed the US dropout rate at 14 percent. How can the statistics be so different? Which ones are more correct? The answers are not clear, and researchers add to the confusion by arguing among themselves.
The validity of statistics depends on how they are calculated. Statistics often don’t reflect different factors in determining the statistics. They give us a picture of a situation, but the picture is not always accurate.
Discussion
Discuss the following questions.
1.Do you think that it is OK to use deceiving statistics if it is for a good cause? Why or why not?
2.Think of an example of a misleading statistic that an individual or organization has used. What was the purpose of them doing so?
U N I T 4 Social Issues 2
Where Are
All the Boys?
Pre-Reading Questions
Think about the following questions.
1.What percentage of the students at your school are women?
2.Which majors do men usually choose? Which majors do women choose?
3.What kinds of jobs do men do if they do not attend university?
Vocabulary Preview
Match each word or phrase with the correct definition.
1. |
dilemma |
a. registration in a class or school |
2. |
decline |
b. to relate to a particular cause or source |
3. |
enrollment |
c. to decrease; to go down |
4. |
attribute |
d. a problem; difficulty |
5. |
ensure |
e. to seek; to go after |
6. |
pursue |
f. to guarantee |
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Where Are All the Boys? 
Track 15
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hese days, college lecture halls in the United States are being filled |
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more and more by female rather than male students. Women now |
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Tmake up 55 percent of the college population---and that number |
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continues to rise. Within ten years, three million more women than men may be |
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attending US colleges. |
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Thirty years ago, male students were the majority on college campuses in the |
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United States. Traditionally, men acted as the breadwinners of their families, |
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and college was seen as the path to career advancement and higher salaries. But |
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during the feminist movements of the 1970s, more women aspired to having |
10careers and enrolled in college to pursue degrees. By the mid-1980s, more women than men were attending college. At the same time, there was an unexpected decline in the number of males applying to college. Educators are still uncertain of the cause of this decline, but it continues to affect enrollment numbers for men in higher education. Researchers have suggested a number of theories to account for
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males’ seeming decline in interest in seeking college degrees. |
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According to the National Center for Education Statistics, males leave or are |
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kicked out of high school in higher numbers than females. And male students are |
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three times more likely to be placed in special education programs. Author |
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Christina Hoff Sommers attributes the drop in male enrollment to early stereotyping |
20of boys as “aggressive” and “non-academic.” In her book, The War Against Boys, Sommers writes that many boys don’t receive enough mentoring and
academic support to become straight-A students and therefore lose
interest in higher education.
Others believe the drop in male enrollment can be
25attributed to the growing number of men seeking jobs in repair, construction, and technology. These are careers that
3 |
make up --- to comprise |
7 |
breadwinner --- primary money maker |
15 |
seeming --- appearing to be true |
17kick out --- to throw out; to remove
18special education --- education that is modified for slow
learners or those with special needs
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bachelor --- a four-year college degree |
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doctorate --- a five-to-seven-year graduate degree |
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priority --- something that takes importance over other things |
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lawsuit ---a legal action in court |
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weight --- importance; likelihood of selection |
often don’t require a four-year degree from a university but still promise good salaries.
The effect of there being more women than men at
30colleges has created some noticeable changes. The higher number of female students has already led to more diverse classes and programs offered at universities, especially in the field of Women’s Studies. And at graduation time, one may notice a difference in what types of university degrees are
35awarded to men and women. While women earn a higher
bachelor’s and master’s degrees, men still earn a higher percentage of doctorate degrees.
But fewer men on campus have not changed the male/female ratios in some majors. There are still fewer women in fields such as math, engineering, science,
40and computers. Women’s advocacy groups like the American Association of University Women are urging colleges to make this issue a priority, but the focus for many schools still centers on recruiting more men. To increase male enrollment, some schools have formed partnerships with male mentoring groups to encourage younger students to aim for college. Other schools have modified
45their recruiting and admissions policies, sending out extra mailings to boys and paying closer attention to male candidates.
However, public universities may face legal challenges from women about these recruiting practices that favor males. Recently, the University of Georgia lost a lawsuit filed by female students because of an affirmative action policy that
50favored males. As one female junior complained, “It’s not fair that a boy would get extra weight (in the admissions index) over a girl, but it would be better if there were more boys on campus.” This dilemma presents a challenge for colleges: How can a school attempt to close the gender gap in ways that ensure that both men and women have equal access to opportunities in universities?
Reading Time |
_______ minutes _______ seconds |
598 words |
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Reading Comprehension
AMark each statement as either true (T) or false (F) according to the reading.
1.____ Women first outnumbered men on college campuses in the 1980s.
2.____ Sommers wrote a book about boys in high school.
3.____ Colleges are offering more courses that focus on women
and women’s issues.
4. ____ Men need to go to college to get a job with a good salary.
BChoose the best answer.
1.Which is NOT a reason suggested for the decline in the number of men in colleges?
a.Fewer males in society
b.Stereotyping against males in high school
c.Males entering jobs that don’t need high degrees
d.Males lack mentors in high school
2.Which is probably true about Sommers’s book?
a.It describes laws related to education.
b.It focuses on boys.
c.It looks at the progress girls have made.
d.It tells about her experience in school.
3.Which is true about males in high school?
a.They enjoy studying.
b.They cause less trouble than the females.
c.They get better marks than the females.
d.They get into more trouble than the females.
CFor the next two questions, look for the answers in the passage and write them on the lines provided.
1.What ways have schools tried to increase male enrollment?
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
2.Why have some universities had legal problems with their recruiting policies?
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________