How Income Inequality Affects The High School Dropout Rate

For high school students from low-income households, the road to graduation can be filled with obstacles – and where they live is one of them.  The Brookings Institute has found a new link between states with high income inequality and dropout rates among low-income youths. According to the report, the perceived lack of social mobility is a big issue for low income students in states like Georgia.

"Even if a kid who is doing well in school might aspire to a middle class way of life, the barrier to realizing that are considerable and multiple," Kent McGuire on the hurdles faced by low-income youths.

We talk about the findings with one of the co-authors of the report, Brookings Institute non-resident senior fellow Melissa Kearney, and Kent McGuire, president and CEO of the Southern Education Foundation. 

Check out the full Brookings Institute report here:

Institute Inequality, Social Mobility and the Decision to Drop Out

More from Melissa Kearney:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIHjPRho4A4