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| Yes | 54% | 147 votes | Total: 272 votes | |
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Add to FavoritesUntil Mandatory attendance is required for every student in the United States until he/she graduates, our nation will continue to fall behind those nations who do require all students to graduate. If we stipulate a definitive age of freedom from attendance, there will always be a small percentage of students who barely hang in there until that age is reached. Graduation should be the goal that all students are required to attain. Learning Disabled students achieve a certificate of attendance, which is laudable. Unless a child has learning disabilities that strictly limit his ability to learn anything other than base skills, every student should be required to graduate with an achievement level of 70% or higher. This might require an age older than 18, but setting a definite age is a step in the right direction. If a student cannot meet graduation requirements the standard way, she should be mandated to complete a year of vocation courses with a score of 70%. To simply allow students to leave school without the skills or ability for anything other than a minimum wage, possibly for life, would be an injustice to the student.
Our government must set higher standards in education to be able to compete with other industrialized nations. We are currently on the verge of loosing our status as the world's leader. We must set the bar higher and teach our children with a greater expectation of achievement. We must also have laws that deter teenagers from considering leaving school without a diploma. A drivers license should be revoked for students dropping out of high school. It should also be required for students to have a 70% achievement level to obtain a drivers license. For those students who are defiant and intent upon dropping out of school, there should be a law that allows employers to hire drop-outs at less than the minimum wage until they obtain their GED. Without harsh penalties for students who do not complete their high school educations, schools will have little enticement to hold on to students who falsely believe that quitting is the best way.
Americans are spoiled by some of the freedoms we enjoy. There is nothing wrong with expectations attached to some of the these freedoms. It is true that we have the freedom to fail; to do nothing productive. Such behavior should not be rewarded with privileges or government subsidies that hard-working students would have to pay for. A greater expectation should be placed upon parents to see that their children are raised in an environment conducive to learning and completing what is started. Schools must have the ability to intervene in home situations that are proven to be detrimental to a child's safety and/or ability to concentrate during school hours. Children who habitually fall asleep in class would warrant an investigation, as well as those who are unable to focus and remain on task for less than thirty minutes at a time. Standards should be in place that allow teachers to report to truant officers. Truant officers should be trained in basic law enforcement and in health & human services. Currently, in many states, truant officers have no authority to enforce attendance or recommend jail time for the parents.
With requirements for enforceable laws and higher standards for all schools across our nation, our children would enter the education system with the belief that graduation is the only way out. Higher expectations taught from the beginning will see a dramatic increase in graduation rates. Gain is usually not obtained without some pain. However, when something is broken or working improperly, the cure involves a degree of discomfort before it is healed.
Learn more about this author, Barbara Stanley.
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No
Each child is different and there are many extenuating circumstances in making the decision whether a child should remain in the school system until the age of eighteen. My youngest son is a prime example. I will call him Tyler for the sake of this article. Tyler was diagnosed with ADD at a young age. He had learning disabilities and was dyslexic. Grammar school was a chore in it's self but he managed. Once he reached the fifth grade, things really started to spiral out of control.
He became despondent and pretty much gave up trying. Coming from a broken home without the care or concern of his birth mother did nothing to help matters. He was dealing with some heavy emotional problems that carried over into the class room. I am his 'Step Mother' and I raised him from a toddler. All the doctors wanted to do is out him on Ritalin. This was not an acceptable answer in my personal opinion. I knew many of his learning problems were deeply rooted and almost entirely caused by emotional stress and his feelings of rejection from his mother.
He failed the fifth grade with border line grades, so they decided to go ahead and move him on up to the sixth. The sixth grade was no better, in fact it became worse. He really started acting out and not paying any attention at all. I was constantly at the school talking to teachers, counselors and his principles. He had to stay after school for detention two or three days a week, for not completing his work. Getting him to do his homework was like pulling teeth, a very real struggle to say the least.
When he failed the sixth grade, we sent him to summer school. That did no good either. To make a long story short, he wound up turning 16 in the ninth grade. He wasn't learning anything but meanness. He was a total distraction to his class mates and constantly in trouble. He was a handsome young man and all the girls were crazy about him. That wasn't necessarily a good thing either. The only reason he went to school was to hang out with his girl friends and his buddies.
This also was a problem because he was getting in with the wild crowd. He was easily led into trouble and didn't mind getting in trouble either. Really he hated school. He hated everything about it but his friends. I was at my wits end corner trying to figure out what to do and how to handle a situation that was completely out of control. I tried crying, praying, trying to work with him, praising him and rewarding him when he did do right. I tried talking to him and punishing him but nothing seemed to phase him at that stage in his life.
I finally made up my mind just a few days after he turned sixteen, the best thing for all involved was to pull him out of school. I went and picked him up and signed him out of the ninth grade after speaking with his counselor. On the ride home I had a long talk with him. I told him that was it. If he could not buckle down and make it in school, then he could go to work instead. I told him, "Son it is school or work, one or the other." No if ands or buts about it.
We went out that very day, job hunting. He got a his first little job at burger king and he has been working ever since. He is now a store manager for one of the major cell phone companies and makes pretty good money. He had a lot of growing up to do and I honestly feel like taking him out of school was the very best thing I could have possibly done for him. He started making his own money and learning responsibility. Did he ever finish his education? No, he did not but he very well could at any given time and now that he is a twenty five year old young man, I firmly believe he could get his GED and pass with flying colors.
School is great for most students but sometimes experience and responsibilities are the very best teachers. I certainly would not recommend this to all parents or students but we must look at every situation and every student on an individual basis and try and make the best decision for all parties involved. I feel I made the best decision at the time for the other students, his teachers, myself and most of all my son and his particular needs.
Learn more about this author, Charleine Fenn.
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