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I have noticed a few States are making an effort to require that kids stay in school until they are 18. It sounds like an interesting idea but I wonder if it will really improve things. I teach at a local community college and have many years experience in education. I teach many students who have no interest in the subject being taught and basically just drag the whole class down by their lack of interest and terrible attitude. Why they or their parents spend money on college is a real good question. Maybe keeping unmotivated kids in high school past age 16 will not help anyone. They will just stop trying and just put in their time.
Once kids get past sixth grade, I find the entire approach to education to be royally screwed up. And this proposal is further proof.
Not all kids are college bound. In fact, a majority of them are not. So why shelve them in college prep classes until age 18? Not only are they uninterested, but they slow down the teaching of kids who do plan to attend college.
Instead, why not, beginning at age 14-15, begin giving kids the option to learn a trade instead? There is a critical shortage of professions such as electrician, HVAC, and a host of other technical skills. All these jobs are honorable, well-paying, and chronically understaffed. That way, we're not paying $10,000-$12,000 a pop to educate kids who don't want to be there in the first place.
On the other hand, I bet those same kids would be quite motivated learning carpentry or whatever other line of work they choose.
I feel like once children become 13, they should be allowed to decide for themselves. There is no reason to waste all of our tax money on children who don't want to be there in the first place. Not to mention, it's now a requirement to take college prep classes in most schools. That should be voluntary. The kids who don't care about that stuff hold back the other students. It's a shame really. I feel like once kids get in their teens, they should be allowed to do apprenticeships or learn a skilled trade.
school after a certain point becomes babysitting for the most part
most kids dont want to be there, they are learning nothing of use but we cant have 15 year olds roaming the streets all day causing trouble
No, the government tries to own children long enough as it is. I graduated high school at 17... why would I still go to school after that? (High school, I mean.) I did not require babysitting at that point, and let's face it, senior year in high school is just "socialization" and babysitting.
I feel sorry that some of you didn't take charge of your educations enough for high school to be "babysitting". That certainly wasn't my experience. I was polishing up my skills in two foreign languages and philosophy in my public high school senior year... and I wasn't exactly a special case.
In any case... there's a serious entitlement problem with a lot of kids. Even if you stuck the poor performing ones in vocational classes, that's not going to make much of a difference for many. I DO think we need a lot more vocational options in high school, but that's not going to change attitudes. The students who bring everyone in a class down are going to do it if they're in college prep or if they're in vocational classes- it's a problem with the attitude.
Thinking more about this, I'm going to assume that the states are only asking that kids stay in school til they're 18 IF they have not graduated yet. So instead of teh dropout rate being 16, it's 18. The students who do'nt care enough to stay in school past their 16th birthday are not going to be helped by being forced to be in school until they're 18, so I don't see how it would make any difference, other than to have potentially disruptive students in school two years longer.
Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
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I went to a HS with only a 73% grad rate and personally i think that if you aint at least marginally motivated you should not waste your time and our tax dollars at school. I do think there should be more options for blue-collar/certification. Trust me not every kid wants to go to college.
Well, public high schools receive a portion of their funding based on how many students are enrolled, and even that is controlled by if they even show up or not. I agree that it is a waste of taxpayers money (home owners?), but the irony is that some schools would be shut down if attendance was too low; affecting those students who want to be there and learn.
When I went to high school in California a student could legally drop out at the age of 16 with out parental consent. However, it was illegal for a 17 year old who has not officially dropped out of school to play hookie. My high school also kicked out students who turned 18 if they were not going to graduate on time.
There was a program called ROP (Regional Occupational Program) at my high school which was for students who where either 16 or juniors (which ever came first) to spend their junior and senior years of high school learning a trade. They spent the first half of the day doing basic core high school courses (english, math, history, etc.), then the other half learning their trade. It was exactly like a two year vocational program at a tech college, except they received a high school diploma and a certification instead of a college cert. I had a few friends who did it for auto mechanics and all three of them landed jobs right out of high school making $10-$12 an hour. May not seem like that much money now, but back then that was gold to an eighteen year old.
NH did just pass a law requiring compulsory attendance to 18 (or graduation). There are pros and cons to this, obviously. We are also instituting a couple of other measures to, hopefully, make this work better for students and teachers, etc. The state is allowing "ELOs" or "Extended learning opportunities" which will allow students to create a plan for gaining credit for outside of school endeavors, like work experience, community service, research projects, etc, which will allow them to get credit for learning that goes on outside of the 4 walls of school. I think this will help move us in the right direction of allowing ALL kids to take part in education in the way that best suites them. Of course, there will always be the small percentage of kiddos who just don't want to be there...that will always be the case, but whatever we can do to promote more education and training will help!
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