At fifteen, i dropped out of high school.

High school is difficult for any student.

It was especially difficult for me–and continues to be for other transgender youth–as trans students face a troubling combination of obstacles that fragment their connection to school: Transgender students are not only more likely to experience routine victimization by their peers and increased school discipline (associated with discrimination, self defense, and survival tactics such as truancy), but also “more vulnerable to the impact of discriminatory school policies and active discrimination on the part of some school faculty and staff.” ¹

And, thus, their ability to obtain their diplomas and enter the post-secondary-school universe on a level playing field.

Because I was trying to survive as a transgender youth (perhaps the only one in my school at the time who was openly transitioning), I was not interested in solving quadratic formulas or applying atomic principles.

I was solving much more challenging equations.

But as the bullying and depression became more intense, I decided to drop out and complete my high school experience online where I would not have to face the bullying of my peers, be misgendered, or be called by the wrong name.

As a high school dropout turned English teacher, I continue to see how transgender youth are being treated in the school system. 

Researchers acknowledge what I now see from the other side of the desk: while there is a lack of retention statistics for transgender students–in part due to self-identification challenges and in part because of minimal tracking efforts–almost one third of all transgender students drop out of high school. ² This statistic more than triples the national rate for cisgendered students.

Even in instances where these students do not drop out, roughly “one third of transgender students (32.7%) had skipped a day of school in the past month because they felt unsafe.” ³

Transgender students are also more likely to be detained for offenses commonly associated with survival strategies such as running away and truancy. ⁴ These students are also the most likely to avoid survival, period, as their hospitalization and suicide rates are higher than any other minority group.

While these students need immediate, positive interventions, they are faced with quite the opposite: now that “states have advanced a record number of bills that attack LGBTQ+ rights, especially transgender youth,” ⁵ their experience, attendance, and school completion rates are bound to get worse.

References

1. (GLSEN, 2016, p. v) ↩︎
2. (AERA, n.d., p. 1) ↩︎
3. (Kosciew et al., 2019, p. xviii) ↩︎
4. (Irvine, 2010, para. 4) ↩︎
5. (ACLU, 2023, para. 1) ↩︎