Students aren't just dropping out of school, they're dumping it. Teachers aren't just quitting, they're running. Each group may blame the other, but they're running from the same problems, not each other. Both are victims of the alienation process that prevails in schools and is cultivated by conditions within the school, the community, and society at large.

According to the authors, attempts to decrease dropouts and burnouts have failed because reformers have approached them as two distinct problems. The root causes are the same in each and "mandate an immediate and drastic reappraisal".

Giving Up on School is the culmination of years of sociological and anthropolgical research in school settings. The authors offer a compelling portrait of those who "turn off, tune out, and drop out" and then propose changes - both modest and not-so-modest - to reverse the trend.