美国3月2日公布的一份调查报告显示，大部分在高中辍学的美国青年承认自己犯了一个大错误，其中有些人还表示，如果学校所授课程更富挑战性的话，他们也许会愿意一直待在教室里。

    据路透社3月3日报道，在美国，每年约有100万高中生中途辍学。但近日的一份调查报告显示，四分之三的被调查者称，如果时光可以倒流的话，他们会选择留在校园，继续完成自己的学业。而有高达80％的被调查者明确表示，拥有一张高中毕业文凭还是非常重要的。从具体统计数字来看，一个高中辍学者平均每年要比一个高中毕业生少挣9200美元，而他们一生的总收入要比那些拥有大学本科学历的人少了大约100万美元。

    调查人员对467名年龄在16岁到25岁之间的高中辍学者进行调查后发现，这些人中的大部分并非是成绩糟糕的学生或调皮捣蛋者。三分之一的被调查者认为自己属于学业上的失败者，但他们中超过60％的人在离校时各科考试的平均成绩均保持在C或是更高的水平上。近一半的人表示，他们是对学校生活感到厌倦，觉得课堂上所学的内容与自己的生活毫无关系可言，所以选择退学。

    一位辍学者表示：“老师只不过是照本宣科而已，他们根本就不在乎你是否能听得进去。”另一位辍学者说：“当时没有什么人能让我继续心甘情愿的留在校园里。”还有辍学者抱怨说：“在课堂上其实学不到什么东西，他们让你在学校里学这学那，而这些知识在你日后的生活中根本就派不上用场。”

    该调查报告的作者之一约翰·布里奇兰德表示：“这些中途辍学的孩子在接受调查时显得既有口才又有能力，这给我们留下了深刻的印象。他们本希望自己日后能够成为医生、护士、工程师或是宇航员，但由于整天面对毫无灵感和吸引力、时常混乱无序的学习环境，让他们最终选择退学。他们中有人的中学入学考试分数很高，他们只不过是在精神上产生了很强的厌倦感，觉得在课堂所学知识与自己的日常生活及今后的职业前景没有任何联系。”

    该报告建议美国联邦及地方政府尽力帮助学生选择适合自己的学校，让学生家长也真正关心此事；同时创建针对有辍学危险的学生的早期预防系统。该报告还呼吁有关部门可以考虑将法定辍学年龄提高到18岁。据悉，美国目前大部分州都将青少年强制性接受学校教育的年龄上限定在了16岁或17岁。

    Most students who drop out of high school in the United States admit they made a mistake by quitting and some say they might have stayed if classes were more challenging, according to a report released on Thursday.

    Researchers said they were surprised to find that a majority of the 467 dropouts they interviewed were not what most people would consider underachieving troublemakers and losers.

    One-third said they were failing in school, but more than six out of 10 were maintaining C averages or better when they quit. Almost half said they were bored or that the classwork seemed irrelevant.

    "The teacher just stood in front of the room and just talked and didn't really like involve you," a young female respondent from Baltimore said.

    "There wasn't anybody to keep me there," said a young man from Philadelphia who dreamed of going to college but quit high school with one year to go and is now unemployed.

    "There wasn't any learning going on," another complained. "They make you take classes in school that you're never going to use in life."

    Three out of four said if they could turn back the clock they would choose to stay, and eight out of 10 said they now recognized that a high school diploma was important to succeed in life.

    Statistics show they are right. A high school dropout on average earns $9,200 less a year than a high school graduate, and about $1 million less over a lifetime than a college graduate.

    The study is one of the most extensive ever of American high school dropouts, of which there are about 1 million each year. It was based on research conducted by Peter Hart Research Associates and commissioned by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

    "They struck us as articulate, capable," said John Bridgeland, one the report's authors and a former Bush administration domestic policy adviser. "These kids wanted to be doctors and nurses and engineers and astronauts and then they hit the schoolhouse door and they're confronted with an environment which is not inspiring, not engaging and often disorderly and unsafe."

    "Some had high grades and were just bored out of their minds," Bridgeland told Reuters in a telephone interview. "They found no connection between the classroom and life and their career aspirations."

    The young people between 16 and 25 who took part in the study called "The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts" were interviewed in 25 locations with high dropout rates. These included cities, suburbs and towns.

    The report recommends federal, state and local efforts to offer students school options, engage parents and create early-warning systems for at-risk youths.

    It also calls for more accurate tracking of dropouts and consideration of raising the legal dropout age to 18. Most states sets the compulsory school attendance age at 16 or 17.