Sociology ETDs

Publication Date

7-26-1971

Abstract

Over the past ten years much has been written and researched about what sociologists and educators alike regard as a vast social problem, the increasing number of youths who withdraw prematurely from high school. Dr. Robert Strom called the phenomenon of high school dropouts "The Tragic Migration," and James Bryant Conant regarded it as "social dynamite."

Many factors have been suggested to be related to the tendency to drop out of high school, and these will be reviewed in this thesis. However, it seems that each factor in itself is associated with one major problem, and that is the phenomenon of the poverty cycle. This thesis examines the proposition that the financial aspects of poverty, rather than other factors, lead directly to dropping out.

The problem is studied in the graduate and dropout populations of two Albuquerque high schools of differing ethnic and social composition. Both the pull of the job market and conditions relating to family financial need are examined in an effort to determine whether economic aspects of poverty lead directly to dropping out.

Degree Name

Sociology

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Sociology

First Committee Member (Chair)

Joseph Fashing

Second Committee Member

Theodore N. Guinn

Third Committee Member

Gilbert Wilson Merks

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

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