The attitudes of students toward school and dropping out and the kinds of pressures students feel from their families that create school problems were studied in the San Diego City (California) school system. An ethnically diverse inner city high school was selected for the study, with about 56 percent Latino or Hispanic students, 12 percent African Americans, 10 percent Asian Americans, and 20 percent Euro-American. A total of 120 students completed the survey, with 90 selected for interviews. Perceptions of teacher caring were related to happiness in school. Interest in school was found to be related to student sense of happiness in going to school and sense of being treated well in school. The theme of dropping out was related to: (1) having no private time or time to do homework at home; (2) ease in talking to a counselor; (3) interest in school; and (4) being happy there. Group interviews indicated that students recognized the need to take responsibility for their own school concerns. They also highlighted the need for parents to provide more encouragement and to be more involved. Recommendations for dropout prevention based on student responses are included. Eleven charts present survey findings. Two appendixes present open-ended survey questions and their responses. (Contains 8 references.)(SLD)