1. One of the main reasons we need to care about at-risk youth is that if we don't try to help these students, frankly, they will become a burden on society. When they drop out of school they increase the risk of becoming drug addicts, unemployed, ending up in prison and increase the risk of teenage pregnancy. Furthermore, they will need social services such as welfare and healthcare, both of which are already overtaxed. We discussed in class that states like California are using reading scores to predict how many new prisons they will need to build instead of reinvesting that money into the education of at-risk students. Five key indicators for at-risk youth are:a. Minority, racial or ethnicb. Living in a poor family. Living in a single parent's home. Having an uneducated mother. Have a non-English language background3. Alcohol: According to our text, 50% of students drank alcohol one or more days in the previous month. I'm not sure what that means though, did they take a sip of their parents drink, did they drink a whole drink, did they eat a dessert or dip made with alcohol, or half of these kids are Catholic (Blood of Christ at Communion) ? I believe 17% have driven after drinking (again you could use some of the same arguments above), but I think most teenagers are reckless at this age and simply fail to contemplate the repercussions of their actions. What's scary now is that kids do crazy things to their bodies to get "drunk." Who thinks of shooting vodka through your eyeball or anus? Guys now take shots with their eyes to get drunk quickly. Unfortunately, it is causing worsening vision in children. Drugs: Once again, I think that... in the middle of the paper... the text highlights well the need to remove the negative influences of a traditional school. When there are negative outside influences such as drugs, gangs, etc., it can be difficult for at-risk students to make the right choice. Furthermore, negative teacher influences can discourage traditional school students. With this in mind, we must be flexible with at-risk students. As we discussed in class, these students all come from different backgrounds and situations and have something that makes them different from the at-risk student next to them. For them to be successful, we must have an environment that meets their needs. There needs to be flexible hours to accommodate the needs of students coming to the program. If we try to fit them all into one box, we won't see much success with our students.