Obama proposes requiring students to stay in high school

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

FUCK NO!

It would effectively end any and all Homeschooling and other possibilities.

Not only that, but any laws that force a kid to do something are a bad idea. Laws are supposed to be preventative measures.

And finally, High-school simply isn't right for everyone. If a parent and child decide that High-school is more problem than help, they have to be allowed to leave.

And keep in mind that it's not as if a teen can drop out without their parent's permission right now anyway, so some judgement has to be made.

irregardless

[image/]http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/089/665/tumblr_l96b01l36p1qdhmifo1_500.jpg[/IMG]
*twitch*

 

[Etteparg]

EDIT:

Actually... it wouldnt be a popular idea and no one would agree with it (in congress at least), but I would just say if you wanna drop out, feel free to, but you get no governemnt aide whatsoever. No welfare or similar benefits. you put yourself in the situation, so you should deal with the consequences.

While I'm sure it would never make it I love this idea.

 

[Dilapsor]

I don't buy the poverty excuse.

It's tragic if little Johnny needs to drop out of school to help his parents make ends meet, but how is that really helping? Without a decent education, it is extremely unlikely for little Johnny to get a decent paying job which will break the cycle of poverty. It leaves him in the same horrible condition as his parents.

The cynical side of me says, "Sure, go ahead and let the little bastard drop out. That's just one less person I need to compete with in the job market." But at the same time, there is no doubt that the success of the individual, as well as the nation as a whole, weighs very heavily on how well educated they become (http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm). Education is an investment, and you get out of it exactly what you put in.

My two older brothers are a pretty good example of this in action. They had identical upbringings and all of the exact same opportunities. Jason dropped out when he was 16 because he (in his own words) didn't see the point of finishing high school and is now nearing 40 and still making less than $20,000 per year doing menial labor. Craig finished his Master's Degree and is making a ludicrous amount of money with CitiCorp. Both of them are actually extremely intelligent and driven, but Craig had infinitely more possibilities open to him because he stuck with his education.

Can you live happily without a high school education? Sure, it's possible. However, without at LEAST that, your ability to move up in the world is severely diminished. By allowing children to drop out of High School and even supporting them while they do it is extremely harmful to the nation as a whole. We need intelligent, educated people to help get the country back on its feet, for these are the people who create businesses, technologies, and services.

I don't doubt that someone will eventually say, "But we need these people to flip our burgers and clean our bathrooms and dig our ditches." True, but none of the people doing those things want to do that for the rest of their lives. They're slaves to their own poor educational decisions.

 

[NewYork_Comedian]

What we need is ground-up education reform, gearing the system toward how children actually learn [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U&list=FLRSlRwCSOGYjVcnEx5D1NpA&] and actually working with teachers to find the right solutions, rather than making these arbitrary changes conceived by committees of so-called "education experts" who are really just gussied-up businessmen who haven't spent a day of their lives actually teaching in a classroom.

We watched that video in my media class, and it generated quite a discussion. Sadly I doubt that the system will be changed within the next 10 years, at least drastically.

OT: I agree, from the many studies that have been shown dropping out of high school is probably one of the decisions you will regret most in your lifetime, so making it required most certainty won't be a bad idea.

 

[ShindoL Shill]

Let them drop out, I don't want to be stuck in a class with someone who would rather not be there and disrupts my learning. Also if you force them to wait til they turn 18 some people woud be unable to drop out at all, I graduated when I was 17.

exactly. at my school, there are people who've left and have jobs. there are some who could actually be qualified to leave school and go to university at 15 (in scotland, you need 5 highers to enter a university. my school does the standard grades a year early, giving us an extra year for highers in fourth year, which you can theoretically finish by age 15). i'll be leaving at 17 too, and i have one more year to go (right now i'm 16).

 

[ConstantErasing]

Of course. Should decrease the number of idiots around by a little at least and that is always a massive plus.

 

[Gennadios]

Most of our problems come down to just about any tard under the sun being eligible for a high school degree. Half those people than manage to get college degrees because the majority Uni standards aren't really any more rigorous than those of high schools.

I say make it easier to drop out of school or make it harder to get a diploma, that way they'll actually mean something for the rest of us.

 

[Jake0fTrades]

This is a bit of a moot point, but Fontaine from Bioshock said it best:

"They come to Rapture thinkin' they're gonna be captains of industry, but they all forget that somebody's gotta scrub the toilets."

Education should be endorsed, but if you don't care enough about your future to pursue education, we'll give you the career fitting of your credibility.

 

[Lazy Kitty]

Yes. Also I believe we already have that over here...

 

[BlumiereBleck]

No Child Left Behind 2.O? Forcing people to do something they don't want to do, does not help them learn. If the dropouts to be want to leave it is their decision....no matter how stupid it may be.

 

[RamirezDoEverything]

Yep, sounds goods to me.

I see so uneducated morons day in and day out at my high school, they all could use some extra learnin' before they're placed into the workforce.

 

[evilneko]

*Quick addition*- an idea for the "more strict" version. Require people to have at least a GED before they are able to get on welfare, and while I'm mentioning welfare, ATTACH A FUCKING DRUG TEST. I have to be clean to WORK for my money, make the fuckers that sit around and DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING be clean to get their leeching as well.

You realize the whole "welfare recipients are drug-addled slackers" thing is a myth, right?

 

[Marcus Kehoe]

I like it, I don't think anyone is really happy they dropped out.

 

[NightHawk21]

Its a good first step. Next change it so you can't get welfare if you are an Americna born citizen and haven't finished school (exceptions on a case by case basis), and then change the welfare system so that people can't sit on it forever. A change perhaps to: you are granted welfare for a period of 3-6 months during which you are fit to work. If during that time you can not find employment, you will be provided with employment and a means of getting do and doing your job or your welfare support will be discontinued.