WASHINGTON, March 2 (UPI) -- High school dropouts say parents and teachers failed them by not demanding more from them, a survey released Thursday said.
The top five reasons young people gave for leaving school were: classes were not interesting; they had missed too much to catch up; their friends were uninterested in school; they had too much freedom; and they were failing, USA Today reported.
The poll was commissioned by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and released by Civic Enterprises, a public policy group founded by two former Bush administration officials. Peter D. Hart Research Associates polled 467 dropouts aged 16 to 24, combining focus groups and face-to-face interviews.
The majority of the dropouts, 68 percent, said their parents did not take an interest in how they were doing until they were about to drop out.
