“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. These are the famous words from one of our generation’s greatest minds, the late, great Nelson Mandela. With such a true statement, you would think that education would be a priority for everyone who has the means to pursue it, right? Well, unfortunately for students in America, this is not the case.

Here in the United States, over 1.2 million students drop out of high school each year. This consequently results to 7000 dropouts a day, or one student every 26 seconds. Furthermore, the wage gap that exists between graduating students and dropouts, is perhaps the most shocking statistic of all. It is estimated that students who obtain a high school diploma will make 200 000 dollars more over the course of their lives than dropouts. Additionally, college graduates will make on average over a million dollars more. You would think that these staggering numbers would encourage kids to stay in class, yet almost 2000 high schools across the US graduate less than 60 percent of their students every year.

A sense of entitlement is a major factor behind the nationwide epidemic. Students in America take their education for granted and fail to realize that it is considered a privilege for millions of children around the world. They complain about long bus rides filled with obnoxiously loud shouting, but thousands of children in Jamaica have to walk barefoot to school on excruciatingly hot pavement, blisters burning into their feet. You think that school hours are way too long and the conditions feel like prison? What about all the kids who work 12 hours a day in humid, sweaty, dark Indonesian factories, before they are permitted to go home and study? Oh, your cafeteria food is disgusting? I’m sure the twenty-five million malnourished children in India who go to school every day with the hollow feeling of emptiness filling their stomachs, would gladly change places with you. It’s not fair that you have so much homework? The thousands of girls in the Middle East who run through war-torn terrain, bullets whizzing past their heads, earth-rattling explosions in the distance, just to meet up in a secret hideout to study, probably find their lives unfair as well. If you turn in your assignment late you get detention, if they are discovered learning they get stoned to death in the middle of the street. In spite of this, you are the one who is being treated unfairly?

In addition, the glorification and misconceptions of the lifestyles of dropouts is also a contributor to the problem. They think that once they quit school they can continue living their lavish lifestyle of eating out a couple times a week, going on luxurious vacations in the winter and buying the latest fashion trends that are provided to them by their educated parents. When asked how they will pay for this, they respond that they will get a steady job with decent pay. What they fail to realize is that dropouts are actually limited in the type of work they can do, and often struggle to find employment. To demonstrate this harsh reality, it has been reported that close to 50 percent of American dropouts are currently unemployed. Furthermore, the majority of dropouts who are lucky enough to find a job will only be making minimum wage. If you want to continue going on nights out with your friends, movie premieres and vegas road trips, stay in school!

Subsequently, it is crucial that students do not draw inspiration from all of the famous high school dropouts. They are merely exceptions to the millions of unemployed dropouts living in poverty. For every Jay-Z, there are thousands who live in boxes on the street, teeth clattering, huddled over the vent of a subway railway, waiting for a blast of warm air to briefly relieve them from the constant cold. For every Katy Perry, there are millions who will have to engulf themselves in the foul stench of rotting and moldy food that fills the air of the dumpster they are searching for their meal in. Don’t think you’ll have it easier if you quit school early as statistically speaking, the overwhelming majority will fail.

To summarize, there is no excuse for the millions of Americans who quit school early. Be patient, hardworking and determined and you will forever be rewarded. You have been given an opportunity that millions of others do not receive. Give your best effort to take full advantage of it. Don’t throw your whole life away because you are being lazy. Dropping out may seem like the easy and simple solution at the time, but I urge you to persevere and work hard to see the benefits in the long term.