What Age Can You Drop Out of School with Parental Consent?

mehakverma
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We all know that dropping out of school is not an easy task to commit. It involves a lot of thinking, planning, and security. School plays a very important role in one’s life as it provides education, one of the vital ways a human can improve their future. However, we cannot forget that peer pressure brings in one’s way, which leads to various harmful influences.

1. Reasons That Lead a Child to Think About Dropping Out of School

Many children feel the need to drop out of the school. Some think about helping their family out to earn money. At the same time, some have other reasons as well. Before discussing at what age can you dropout of school with parental consent, let us look at some reasons.

1.1 Pressurized by Family

What Age Can You Drop Out of School with Parental Consent? 1
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One of these reasons is the family’s pressure to pursue a field of study not desired by the child. Sometimes, the parents are delusional about the fact that pressure might destroy their child’s future. They want their children to follow conventional career standards, like science-based careers.

If a child is forced to study something they do not wish to, they start with unexcused absences. Slowly and gradually, they start this process. They become someone who stays out of school without permission, i.e., a truant.

Due to this, the child feels the need to quit what they are studying. They feel like starting something of interest to them and will. The child drops the course that they are forced to research and starts something they wish to. This results in one of two conclusions. 

Either the child becomes brilliant in what they want to do. Or the child becomes lost and fails to succeed or make a career. So, parents are advised not to force their children to study what they wish. Instead, let them decide their career options. Pressure needs to be limited on children, especially those who are younger. 

1.2 Losing Focus in Studies

what age can you drop out of school with parental consent
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One more reason to be brought to light can be losing focus at a younger age. Some students become the so-called ‘spoiled brats’ and start disobeying their parents and their school rules. They lose interest in the study and go for other naïve and wrong options like drugs, gambling, criminal activities, etc.

This also leads to unexcused absences, which eventually makes them habitually truant. Most of these children end up in juvenile court and sometimes even jail. Underage drinking and smoking need to be prohibited. A strict check must be kept on such children so they don’t spoil their future.

Other than this, the parents or even the student sometimes feel the need to gain independent study. It is not exactly dropping out but does include the absence of supervision on the students. 

2. School District

2.1 India

what age can you drop out of school with parental consent
Image by ha11ok from Pixabay Copyright 2016

India is a nation full of brilliant minds and excellent scholars but full of illiteracy and poverty. If we talk about India, we can state that education has always been a matter of question.

In the past, we can see that many sections of society, like women and lower caste people, were not allowed even primary education. Due to this, India suffered from a lot of discrimination. But nowadays, many opportunities have been launched in favor of the forgotten section of society. 

According to The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009, children from 6 to 14 should be given compulsory education. So, it can be said that the minimum age to leave school in India is 14 years. The government has launched many schemes for poor people to follow this act effectively.

One of these schemes is The Midday Meal Scheme, which ensures one-time food for school-going children in government schools. 

But in India, the law does not criminalize the child or parents if the child drops out of school before 14. Still, many children are forced to quit school and start working with their parents at menial jobs due to their poor condition. But sometimes, it’s not the poverty that forces the child to drop out but their own choices.

Some children turn out to do wonders when they drop out of school as schools don’t do justice to their brilliant minds, but other times, the children are stuck in their lives between menial jobs because of the decisions they made at an early age. 

2.2 U.S.A.

If we talk about the U.S., the age at which a child can drop out of high school can vary depending on each state. Usually, the age is between 16, 17 or 18.

But recently, the U.S. has been giving importance to compulsory education, due to which the legal age to drop out of school has become either 17 or 18 in many states. You can learn more about the U.S. education system through the National Center for Education Statistics

3. High-School Diploma

what age can you drop out of school with parental consent
Image by Chantelle from Pixabay Copyright 2018

Even though sometimes it seems like a good and easy idea to drop out of high school, it is usually not the right option. A child with a high-school diploma will not necessarily succeed in life, but at least then the child can do something more than just a menial job. 

It is considered a reasonable decision if the student willing to drop out of school waits for the minimum age required for them to drop out. Even if the child doesn’t want to continue high school, primary education is necessary for everyone.

If the child is considering dropping out of high school, they should always ask for parental permission, a legal guardian, or at least a school counselor. Sometimes, it is hard for a student to talk to their parents. A school counsellor can be a comfortable option and may help the child seek the right decision. 

4. An Overview

It is believed that even though some of the brilliant minds were college or high-school dropouts, they still are not advised to drop out of school (at least high school), and even if they think about doing so, they need a lot of guidance and support personally as well as professionally. 

Last Updated on by Maryam J

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By mehakverma Content writer
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I love to write poetries and articles. Recently I have discovered my love for short stories too. Other than that I'm just a 19 year old trying to write through life.