NPR is doing a series on high school dropouts. Among the subjects they are profiling is Kenny Buchanan, 44, who was 18 when he quit high school. The series overview contains statistics on mid-life dropouts like Buchanan:
Sixty percent of the nation's high school dropouts are older than 40. Most of them left high school to start working, but few move beyond low paying, dead-end jobs. Only seven percent of dropouts 25 and older have ever made more than $40,000 a year. And in hard economic times, many find that not having a diploma puts them at the end of the employment line.
The Dish 