Dropping out means leaving a group for either practical reasons, necessities or disillusionment with the system from which the individual in question leaves.
Most commonly, dropping out refers to a student quitting school before he or she graduates. It cannot always be ascertained that a student has dropped out, as he or she may stop attending without terminating enrollment. It is estimated 1.2 million students annually dropout of high school in the United States, where high school graduation rates rank 19th in the world. Reasons are varied and may include: to find work, avoid bullying, family emergency, poor grades, depression, unexpected pregnancy, bad environment, lack of freedom, and boredom from lack of lessons relevant to the world of work. The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts by Civic Enterprises explores reasons students leave school without graduating. The consequences of dropping out of school can have long-term economic and social repercussions. Students who drop out of school in the United States are more likely to be unemployed, homeless, receiving welfare and incarcerated. A four-year study in San Francisco found that 94 percent of young murder victims were high school dropouts.
In the 1960s, "dropping out" was used to mean withdrawing from established society, especially because of disillusionment with conventional values. It is a term commonly associated with the 1960s counterculture and with hippies and communes. See Turn on, tune in, drop out.
In clinical trials, participants may withdraw from the study, for example, due to adverse effects. This is also referred to as dropping out.
Dropout Recovery
A dropout recovery initiative is any community, government, non-profit or business program in which students who have previously left school are sought out for the purpose of re-enrollment. In the United States, such initiatives are often focused on former high school students who are still young enough to have their educations publicly subsidized, generally those 22 years of age and younger.
Dropout recovery programs can be initiated in traditional "brick-and-mortar" institutions of learning, in community centers or online.
Notable drop outs
High school
The Notorious B.I.G.
Arthur Shawcross
Albert Einstein, Luitpold Gymnasium
Michael Enright (broadcaster)
Bobby Fischer, Erasmus Hall High School
Marvin Hewitt
Beland Honderich
Duke Kahanamoku, Kamehameha Schools
Hitomi Kanehara
Abdel Aziz al-Muqrin
Juan Carlos Onetti
Nas
Eminem
Wright brothers
Walt Disney
Richard Branson
Dave Thomas (American businessman)
David H. Murdock
Carroll A. Campbell, Jr.
Gurbaksh Chahal
Tupac Shakur
Kurt Cobain
Danny Rolling
Teddy Pendergrass
James Earl Ray
Eazy-E
Marvin Gaye
Jay-Z
Chester Turner
Frank Lloyd Wright
University
Woody Allen, New York University
Michael Dell, University of Texas at Austin
Arash Ferdowsi, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Bill Gates, Harvard University
David Geffen, Santa Monica City College, Brooklyn College, University of Texas at Austin
John Glenn, Muskingum University
Steve Jobs, Reed College
Jack Kerouac, Columbia University,
Kanye West, Chicago State University
Alicia Keys, Columbia University
James Dean, UCLA
John Steinbeck, Stanford University
Sylvester Stallone, University of Miami
Ted Turner, Brown University
William Faulkner, University of Mississippi
Anthony Bourdain, Vassar College
Mark Zuckerberg, Harvard University
Doctorates
Robin Farquharson