"Law urged to make teens stay in school" by James Vaznis, Globe Staff | October 21, 2009
Massachusetts students would be required to stay in school until age 18 under an ambitious proposal, part of a broader effort to halve the state’s high school dropout rate....
Why would kids be dropping out of our great schools?
Is that even constitutional?
The state can no longer afford to ignore the dropout crisis, especially when striving to develop a more highly educated and skilled workforce....
For what?
To lose jobs to H1-B immigrants and the rest so the kids can serve in the military?
Under current state law, students can legally drop out by choice at age 16, and students as young as 14 can withdraw from school with permission from the superintendent for medical reasons, employment, or to do nonwage work at home.
If these dropouts never return to receive a diploma, they can become a huge drain on the state’s economy. They are less likely to have a job and are far more likely to go to jail or depend on public assistance than residents who have graduated from high school....
Yeah, but sending all that tax money to biotech and green losers is okay.
Yeah, the state doesn't want to send taxpayer money to taxpayers!
Related: Back-to-School Series: America's Economic Development System
That's what I thought.
In the coming months, the Patrick administration plans to put together legislation to raise the compulsory school age, a measure that will be tied to creation of an array of programs aimed at preventing students from dropping out and reaching out to those who have....
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. Given the state’s dire budget predicament, Reville said, gaining the funding needed to push the effort forward could be a challenge....
The commission did not put a pricetag on its proposals....
Some members of the Legislature have expressed skepticism in the past about raising the age of school leaving, worried about the cost associated with creating programs for these students or further exacerbating problems that many districts already have with truancy.
Don't they care about kids?
Those concerns led to passage of the bill that created the commission....
Students drop out of school for a wide array of reasons. Some grow frustrated because of consistently poor academic performance in school, particularly those not fluent in English and those who require special education, according to the report. Other students say they don’t have time for school because they need to help their families earn income....
Yeah, that would come before skul.
Compared with the national average, Massachusetts loses a smaller share of students....
(Blog editor snorts)
But rates in several Massachusetts urban districts often exceed or hover around the national average....
Don't worry; if there is not a problem in Massachusetts, the state will find one so they inject their nose into it.
Each dropout, over his or her lifetime, costs more than $118,000 in government expenditure and other benefits, according to research conducted a few years ago by Northeastern University’s Center for Labor Market Studies....
Pfft! How can they know that?
And when one thinks about, that isn't very much at all considering the MILLIONS in TAX LOOT we are TOSSING at Hollywood, etc.
Yup, WAR-PROFITEERS and BILKING BANKS don't seem to raise much of a fuss.
Besides, we HAVE PLENTY of money for PRISONS
Related: Massachusetts Justice: Plenty of Money For Prisons
And you wonder why there is no money for kids in this state?
No wonder the kids are costing so much!
Let's just execute the little society-draining s***s and save some money and grief.
Better yet, bring back the draft and send 'em to war!
Hey, look, some things are MORE IMPORTANT than skul!
