I agree that poorly prepared teachers is one cause of the
high dropout rate, but as with most problems, many causes
exist, including an anti-intellectual culture that values over-paid athletes and celebrities w / no obvious talent (e.g. Kim Kardashian); parents who think all their male children will grow up to be Yankees so never put books in the kids» hands; pseudo education reformers who sell a narrative that a first year teacher is no different from a veteran with a grad degree and thirty years teaching experience, administrators who hire based on coaching rather than teaching, school boards that cut library programs rather than sports, etc..