A Comparison of Secondary Dropout Rates in Rural and Urban Costa Rica

This study examined the issue of secondary school abandonment in Costa Rica. It took the national percentage of dropouts as well as the evident problem of regional disparities in terms of high school completion into consideration while it analyzed the opinions of high school aged students in both a rural and urban area. There were four participant groups in total, two in each location. The groups consisted of 5 enrolled and 5 previously enrolled subjects in both areas and each participant was asked open ended questions about their education, future, opinion on high school in general, and attitudes in regards to dropping out in order to obtain trends and differences on school abandonment in the two distinct areas. The findings offer insight into the topic at the national level as well as the discrepancies that are evident when comparing the locations. The conclusions confirm what has been posited in past research in general and in Costa Rica while highlighting the perspective of the students and allowed for recommendations for areas of improvements to be put forth with the hope of aiding in increasing the high school completion rate overall at the national level