“drop out” and “dropout”

Parents nowadays want their kids to learn a lot of things. They want them to excel not only in their studies, but also in sports. Very often they sign up their kids for tennis lessons, karate lessons, etc. After some time, the poor child finds it difficult to cope with both his studies and his extracurricular activities. What does he do? He stops attending the karate and tennis classes. That’s what the expression “drop out” means – to discontinue. When a person who has been attending college decides to “drop out”, he takes the decision to stop going to college. This person does not graduate.

In villages, parents often force their children to drop out of school.

An individual who has dropped out of school or college is called a “dropout”.

We have many high school dropouts in our family.

Source: ‘Know Your English’ Series – The Hindu Daily, July 18 , 2005.