Academics are foundational in a child’s life. A child’s academic success determines his future plans. Of students in grades first through twelfth, 39 percent (17.7 million) live in homes absent their biological fathers. (Nord, Winquist, West 1) 71% of high school dropouts are fatherless; fatherless children have more trouble academically, scoring poorly on tests of reading, mathematics, and thinking skills; children from father-absent homes are more likely to be truant from school, more likely to be excluded from school, more likely to leave school at age 16, and less likely to attain academic and professional qualifications in adulthood. (Kruk 1) Bobby fits that statistic. He has dropped out of high school his senior year. Bobby is having trouble finding a good job because of his poor academic decisions. Bobby is struggling with everyday life because of his decision to drop …show more content…
Social consequences include drug use, gangs, serving jail time, suicide, etc.. Children age 10 to 17 living with two biological or adoptive parents were significantly less likely to experience sexual assault, child maltreatment, other types of major violence, and non-victimization type of adversity, and were less likely to witness violence in their families compared to peers living in single-parent families and stepfamilies.(Turner 13-27) Statistics prove being raised by a single mother raises the risk of teen pregnancy, marrying with less than a high school degree, and forming a marriage where both partners have less than a high school degree. Statistics also prove the following: 63% of youth suicides, 90% of all homeless and runaway children, 70% of youths in state-operated institutions, 85% of all youths in prison, and 71% of pregnant teenagers all come from fatherless homes.(U.S. Dept. of Health, U.S. Dept. of Justice, Texas Dept. of Corrections) Researchers at Columbia University found that children in single mother households are at a 30% higher risk to smoke, drink, or use drugs compared to teens in a two parent household. Bobby fits into a couple of these statistics. Bobby has attempted suicide twice. He also ran away from home at the age of fifteen. Bobby has a criminal record now because he has been arrested twice for possession of drugs with intent to sell. Bobby now fights