In an attempt to cut the state’s dropout rate in half, Massachusetts will consider requiring students to stay in school until age 18. Under current state law students can legally drop out at 16, but students as young as 14 can withdraw for medical reasons or to work.
Taking the advice of a state commission, Governor Deval Patrick will introduce legislation to raise the compulsory school age and create “an array of programs aimed at preventing students from dropping out and reaching out to those who have,” the Boston Globe reports.
Some strategies recommended by the commission include hiring case managers to make the school experience more personal for these students, creating internships so students clearly see the connection between the classroom and potential careers, and using standardized test scores and other data to gauge, as early as elementary school, whether a student runs the risk of not finishing high school.
I have to confess I’ve always been ambivalent about proposals to raise the age for compulsory attendance in school. It’s important to reduce the number of dropouts, but too often we blur the lines between the credential (a high school diploma) and what it putatively represents (an educated graduate). Like extending the school day and year-round schooling, doing more of what’s not working is never a good idea. A focus on raising the numbers of graduates also leads to abused schemes like credit recovery. I’d rather focus on increasing the quality of the graduates rather than trusting that merely handing a kid a diploma solves all future problems. Handing out empty diplomas solves one problem only: the problem of low graduation rates.
Much of the problem stems from the human drive for autonomy. High school students are physically adults. Throughout most of human experience, they lived as adults. It is only recently that society has deemed they must be held over as children.
Compulsory schooling has been compared by some with involuntary servitude. Perhaps we would do better to lower the mandatory school age to 14. This would encourage both school personnel and students to consider fully how a student might benefit by staying in school.
If Massachusetts does this, I hope they follow California’s example and allow students to bypass this new requirement via exam. I know a bunch of homeschooled teens who complete high school by 15 or 16 but who are not yet ready to begin college. They pass the CAHSEE and then work, travel, and/or volunteer for a few years before heading off to college.
If the student can pass the test, I don’t see what is gained by requiring him/her to remain in school until 18.
Oops, I’ve got my tests mixed up. It’s the CHSPE that’s the one homeschoolers take.