Allowing students to drop out

Referring to the education gap increasing, and complications with the curriculum, should educators be afraid of drop out rates increasing? Is it socially acceptable to drop out of high school? I believe there needs to be changes made to the "loose" restrictions regarding when it is "okay" to drop out of school. As i said above the education gap is growing larger and larger as we speak which is causing a degree of separation that i am afraid will not be able to be fixed. I know there are laws pertaining such issues (No Child Left Behind) but i feel like our complications in education are helping our drop out rates. We need to restrict students from dropping out of high school and completing their education to insure success for not only society as a whole but for the individual. What is education? Why are you doing all this work? Some people have different definitions for why we go to school and get an education... i would like to believe it is to make us more knowledgeable and insure prosperity for life. If students continue to accept the fact that it is okay to give up and quit how will we grow?