Did you know that your walls can teach students to stay in school? Did you realize that plaster or concrete could show students how brutally cold life can be if you quit school? How can walls do that? Walls can go to work when they have dropout prevention posters like the ones you can make or buy.
The world is getting more and more inhospitable to people who lack that "magic piece of paper." More than ever before, that diploma is opening doors. More than ever before, doors are slamming shut to people who lack that high school degree. It's never too soon to start letting your youngsters know that their diploma may ultimately be as important as the air they breathe. Regardless of the age of your students, now is the time to let them know that diplomas are becoming essential to survival.
Perhaps it is because the world is becoming so hostile to dropouts that we have been getting so many comments about our dramatic, provocative, tells-it-like-it-is "Drop Out, Lose Out" series of posters. (Our site link is below if you want to see them.) Without a doubt, these posters capture how grim and difficult life may be for today's youth if they lack a high school diploma. The facts cited on the posters have drawn so much comment, that we will provide a synopsis of those grim statistics here so you can easily pass on the information to your students.
If you just want those chilling facts, then you just have to scroll down a bit. If you also want additional specific, ready-to-use ideas how to convey the bad news more effectively and powerfully, you can adapt and use the surprising methods shown on our "Drop Out, Lose Out" posters Here are two ways to immediately use the methods used on the posters. First, you can do the activity pictured. So, for example, on Poster #12, you see stacks of money being rejected. Get stacks of play money and a stamp that says "rejected." You may also want to get a stamp that says "accepted" to give the activity a potentially positive twist. Second, you can verbally convey the images shown on the posters. So, for example, on Poster #14, you see a complex job application on a computer monitor. You could quiz students verbally on how to complete such a complicated application. This activity could be a very potent way to demonstrate that job hunting could be difficult or impossible without education and a diploma. So, as you look at the posters, decide whether to actually do the action portrayed, or to verbally capture it. Either way, you will be gathering additional ideas to powerfully and persuasively convey the bad news about dropping out. The goal of all these rather tough techniques is to absolutely convince your youngsters that life without a diploma is like Minnesota in winter.
Here are 10 Bitter Cold Facts About Dropping Out:
Drop Out, Lose Out on Cars After paying for necessities, a dropout with one job may be able to afford 0 new cars.
Drop Out, Lose Out on Housing A dropout working one job is typically able to afford about 2/3 of a very basic place to live.
Drop Out, Lose Out on Money When dropouts reject free education, they also reject $329,000 of additional income that graduates earn.
Drop Out, Lose Out on Understanding Because dropouts miss a lot of school, they often have problems understanding what nearly everyone else can.
Drop Out, Lose Out on Finding Jobs Jobs open to dropouts are rapidly disappearing as more and more jobs require diplomas to even apply.
Drop Out, Lose Out on Keeping Jobs Dropouts are typically the first fired and the last hired.
Drop Out, Lose Out on Surviving Physically Jobs open to dropouts often lack health insurance and paid sick leave, making basic and even emergency health care unaffordable or impossible to access.
Drop Out, Lose Out on Desirable Jobs Most jobs, the military, and most jobs commonly considered desirable or high-paying, require a diploma to even apply.
Drop Out, Lose Out on Financial Survival Typically, dropouts working one job will not earn enough money to pay all their basic housing, food, heat, light and water bills.
Drop Out, Lose Out on Essential and Free Benefits Jobs open to dropouts usually do not include paid vacation, sick leave or retirement, making vacations, illness and retirement difficult or impossible.
We Have More Motivation-Making Resources Consider passing on our "cold facts" to your students now. Yes, these facts are harsh, but better that your students are exposed now to the increasingly harsh realities facing dropouts, than they live out those realities for the rest of their lives. Our site http://www.youthchg.com has hundreds more free strategies.
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Article added to SearchWarp.com on Wednesday, March 08, 2006 View other articles written by Ruth Herman Wells(2,482)
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