Bein' Wrapped Too Tight: When Low-Income Women Drop Out of High School (From Dropouts from School: Issues, Dilemmas, and Solutions, P 23-53, 1989, Lois Weis, Eleanor Farrar, et al., eds. -- See NCJ-129690)

• NCJ Number: 129692
• Author(s): M Fine; N Zane
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 21 pages
• Sale Source: California Correctional Peace Officers Assoc
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

An analysis of the high school dropout rates is presented for low-income adolescent women in urban areas.

Abstract

Information is derived from two independent data sources. The first involves an ethnographic investigation of a 1978 cohort of 1,430 ninth graders through graduation or discharge and includes interviews of 40 recent and 15 long-term dropouts and an analysis of materials on display in the school. The adolescents interviewed were predominantly black and Hispanic from low-income homes in Harlem. The second data base derives from focused group interviews of 80 young women regarding their experiences as students, dropouts, adolescent mothers, and/or pregnant adolescents. The young women were also low income but black, Hispanic, and white from Philadelphia. The data are reviewed for the incidence of educational, social, and economic consequences of dropping out for young women. Also an analysis is presented of the structure and practices of the schools which place low income women at risk. Suggestions are given to prevent the loss of low-income female students through structural changes within schools and through the relationship between schools and other public institutions. 67 notes