According to many studies, almost one third of all public high school students and nearly one half of all blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans, fail to graduate from public high school each year. Many of these students abandon school with less than two years to complete their high school education. The decision to drop out is a serious one for students. Dropouts are much more likely than their peers who graduate to be unemployed, live in poverty, receive public assistance, end up in prison, live an unhealthy lifestyle, become divorced and become single parents with children who drop out from high school themselves. Dropping out of high school is not a sudden act, but a gradual process of disengagement. Lack of attendance, lack of parental involvement and lack of motivation to succeed are all patterns and signs that a student is having difficulty at school and considering dropping out. Subjects Covered Include: The Drop Out Epidemic, Why do students drop out of school?, High Schools and Funding, Parental Involvement, What are the dangers of dropping out of school, What are the benefits to a high school education, The importance of Graduation to future employers, Lack of opportunities for high school dropouts, Finishing high school - the road to college, Going back to school and finishing your education.

Teenage drug use has reached epidemic proportions on some high school institutions. Most teens have a tendency to feel indestructible and immune to the problems that others experience. Some teens will experiment with alcohol, drugs, prescription medications and may continue to use and develop a dependency. When a teen chooses go to school under the influence of drugs or alcohol it can have serious consequences including an impact on their scholastic rating, impair their academic performance, failure to complete assignments and generally lead to a neglect of their scholastic responsibilities. Staying straight is not only a good decision, but is necessary to succeed at school. Alcohol - one of the most misused drugs today - is also one of the most popular and readily available of all controlled substances found on high school campuses. Missing classes, falling behind, lower grades, futures and ultimately losing whatever funding may have accompanied ones higher education is but a single representation of how drugs and/or alcohol can detrimentally impact a students academic experience. Subjects Covered Include: Alcohol Abuse, Children of Alcoholics (COAs), Prescription drug abuse, Marijuana, Impaired Academic Performance, Staying Straight.

Gun violence is a growing problem among teens in America. One of the most frightening trends over the last several years has been the rise of gun-related violence at school. A number of reasons have been cited for the emergence of this disturbing phenomenon. Some of these include the widespread availability of guns, escalating levels of violence in video games and media violence and rising levels of teen alienation and rage. This program discusses the causes of violence in schools, gun control and ultimately asks the question do students feel safe at school? Teens discuss the following subjects and give their thoughts on - How safe they feel at school? How easy is it for a student to bring a gun into school? How do they feel about guns at school? Have they ever been exposed to guns? What should a student do if they know someone is planning on carrying a gun or weapon into school? Are they influenced by media violence? Should teachers be armed? An ideal thought provocaing program, that provides an unbiased and realistic look from the perspective of teens, at the issue of gun violence. Featuring young teenagers telling their real stories, in their own words. It offers unprecedented access into the hidden teen world thats insightful, fascinating and provocative. Told from the perspective of teens, this program confronts the trauma and drama of coping and surviving in todays often confusing world.

Tom Mooney is the Keith Richards of advertising. He joins the show this week to give his opinion on the spots….and also demonstrates for our audience the best method of walking while inebriated. And he should know.

Nolusindiso Titie Plaatjie knows that soccer can help kids stay away from things that could destroy their lives because that's just what it did for her. In A Game for Life, we are taken to the soccer fields in the poor neighborhood of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, where provincial soccer star, Titie, works with an innovative soccer program to educate local youth about HIV/AIDS prevention.

Renowned as the richest gold strike in North American mining history, the Klondike Gold Rush (1896-1899) set off a stampede of over 100,000 people on a colossal journey from Alaska to the gold fields of Canada’s Yukon Territory. Filled with the frontier spirit, prospectors came and gave rise to what was one of the largest cities in Canada at that time—Dawson City. The boomtown, which became known as “the Paris of the North”, earned the reputation as a place where lives could be revolutionized. Brought to life with excerpts from the celebrated book The Klondike Stampede—published in 1900 by Harper’s Weekly correspondent Tappan Adney—and featuring interviews with award-winning author Charlotte Gray, and historians Terrence Cole and Michael Gates, The Klondike Gold Rush is an incredible story of determination, luck, fortune, and loss. In the end, it isn’t all about the gold, but rather the journey to the Klondike itself.

Join New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristof, Ashley Judd, Blake Lively and Malin Ackerman as they meet activists fighting sex trafficking in the U.S.

Insider’s Guide to Puerto Rico is a travel documentary featuring the island’s best destinations. Native islander Karenlie Riddering leads viewers beyond the usual tourist attractions typically visited by more than 1.4 million tourists who enter Puerto Rico each year on cruise ships alone. Insider’s Guide to Puerto Rico captures some of the most amazing and best-kept secrets of the island into a film that allows visitors and locals to discover and learn about the diverse destinations on the island, and is a historical preservation of the current state of the natural richness of the island, useful for educational, entertainment, and conservational purposes. With a population of approximately four million Puerto Ricans living in the island and an almost equal amount living elsewhere, and due to its accessibility and ease of travel from the continental U.S., the film appeals to a wide array of viewers. It is a great audiovisual tool for teachers and a way to preserve images of the current state of Puerto Rico’s natural resources for future generations.

This film, in Russian with English subtitles, features designers discussing theories on what design is, and whether there is a distinctly Russian school of design. It explains how Vladimir Putin's government has turned to designers to create or reflect ideas about national identity. It invites viewers to consider the relation between designand the expression of ideas.