There are a lot of ways we could talk about teenage dropouts - but these legislators want to encourage kids to drop out so they can get out of paying for a year of school?

I mean, they could have come up with some sort of personal liberty or what's best for an individual child nonsense. Nope, they went with short term financial self interest. Bravo. They've taken my cynicism to a new level.

(Fun Fact: in my state, you must be 16 to take the equivalency exam, and it's only offered a couple of times a year. I tried to take it when I was 15 363/365, but no dice. I had to wait a whole year for the next workable date.)

Instead, they should be looking at the long term - that keeping these kids in school will increase their tax revenues over time - and be thinking about what they can do to encourage them to want to stay. We have a high school in our area that offers a guitar making class that has been enormously successful. Not only does it encompass lessons in music, history, woodworking, science, and mathematics, but kids who probably would otherwise drop out stay in because they want to finish their guitars. They come in after hours to work on them, and have even sometimes kept coming to evening sessions after graduation. Many of these kids were able to finally understand from their work on the guitars why the other classes mattered, and how the knowledge ties together.

These kids, many of whom were at risk to just drift away, are proving to be strong community members and getting good lives.

unitl you're 18; I thought it was that way everywhere.  

It absolutely benefits the state to have educated citizens. And I agree with you shenanigans; this is offensive and educators and legislators need to be thinking outside the box more to keep kids in school.

I don't know what to do about this problem.  My daughter has two gay friends who have dropped out of high school.

1.  The first is a girl.  She was in the gifted program but high school became a living hell for her because of non-acceptance.  My daughter was one of her only friends and both my daughter and I tried to talk her in to staying in school to no avail.  She is much happier now living with a partner and working and taking CC classes at age 20.

2.  The second we just learned about at Christmas is a boy, a senior in high school.  Again, my daughter was one of his few friends through the drama department.  Again, high school was a terrible fit for his personality.  He has dropped out, has a job and plans to pursue singing and acting in alternative ways.  He is much much happier being out of the high school environment.

And I think my kids' high school does well with these kids in their performing arts department---but they still have to leave that cocoon to go to math and history class.

I think when there is a shortage of money that more needs to be spent on Early Childhood education. It is MUCH easier to turn a kid around at 3 than at 17, you know? If you make school engaging from the start and build literacy early, kids do better all through school, and life!

Also, my Mom was officially a drop-out, she was actually able to complete a work study/school program that allowed her to "graduate" early. I think kids in HS need some "nonschool" alternatives.

AND also my "t" key just broke, man, I didn't realize how often you use that letter. Aaargh!

Keeping them in school when they are determined to drop out doesn't accomplish anything.  What it does is disrupt the education of the students who do plan to graduate by having completely disengaged "students" roaming the school and causing problems.  Let those who want to drop out go...and then make it easy for them to come back when they are ready, whether it is in one year or ten.  Provide meaningful vocational training for those who want it.  You may be able to force the would be drop out to stay in school a little longer, but I don't think there is a whole of education going on for many of these would be drop outs.  For all intents and purposes, many of these kids dropped out of school years ago - they are simply making it official at 16.

WHY are the kids dropping out? Shouldn't that be the question?

Gifted students get bored and burned out (my problem and why I "graduated" early). Depression - a friend's son (who later took an equivalency test, worked a year and is now enrolling in college). The need to survive -- kid's without steady income/support, single parents, poor immigrants, etc.

Kids who don't want to be at school will let everyone know about it -- they'll likely cause trouble, distract teachers and counselors with behavioral issues and essentially school will just become a type of prison to them. If they feel unwanted at school, but have to be there, they'll be depressed and suicidal.

Our HS had a work-study program for juniors and seniors where they could get class credit for working part-time. That helped a lot of the borderline dropouts that really needed money to just survive but who were also trying to stay in school. A daycare program helped too which required participants to take a parenting/childcare class. I know some students that found those programs very helpful and were the only reasons why they were able to stay in school and graduate.

to really re-think high school.  Maybe four years, blocked out as we have them now, is  not ideal.  Maybe we should offer some kind of general diploma at 16 or 17.  I also favor programs designed for those kids who are considered "at risk"...those would be those who are not meeting the criteria....those behind in credits, or  having difficulty with passing exit exams.  A lot of these are kids who just don't respond well to traditional education.  We have a couple of charter schools here, one being chartered by the district, I believe, that takes these kids and literally gives them a second chance.  I think they'll take kids up until they are 20 or so.

I am confused as to why students are permitted to drop out of school at all.

The two young men who were recently arrested for the murder of University of North Carolina student body president, Eve Carson(who was near graduation and a promising medical school ahead, not to mention friend to just about everyone)were both dropouts. They went downhill all the way after dropping out, with criminal convictions and little oversight.

Perhaps a bad comparison, but couldn't dropouts be required to have supervision like foster kids? Someone or some agency that tries to steer them toward useful choices? This is not a time when people can find something else to substitute for an education. I know one kid who did not finish high school and managed well in building and construction work, but for the one of him there are 50 who are in trouble.

high school dropouts actually cost society more in the long run in terms of incarceration rates.

I'm sure this is true, but it seems like it would be hard to attribute it definitively to dropping out per se because you don't have a true comparison; i.e. the kids who made the decision to drop out are likely different from kids who didn't drop out on a number of levels.  Not that I don't think it makes sense, in terms of the long term outcomes of having poor job prospects.

CA has a lot of continuation schools which are meant to provide a more flexible educational environment for students who may be at risk of dropping out.  They aren't terribly successful either in terms of having high graduation rates but at least they are one method of trying to work around the specific needs of at-risk students.

I think it's key.  For whatever reason, perhaps the flexibility, there were a lot of kids in my progressive, alternative high school who were completely on their own.  On girl got a job stripping at the Lusty Lady as soon as she turned 18 (it's a union job, if I remember correctly...), and rumor had it she got gym credit for it.  We can argue all day about the legitimacy of that, but the fact is that a literate girl who had all the knowledge she needed to justify a diploma graduated high school when she may not have otherwise.

and it's forced the whole state to re-think HS- in a really good way.  We're looking at ways to give kids credit for real-world experience, ways to offer a greater variety of opportunities across the board, and things for kids to do when traditional HS is working for them- like night school programs, virtual high school, internships/ service programs for credits.  All good stuff that could make the difference between HS as jail and HS as engaging.

students to understand why they should stay in high school if they pass the exit exam in 10th grade.

I think 4 years of high school is too many for a lot of students, some because they master the material early, some because they don't have an interest.  I think we need to get creative about serving all of them.  A good place to start might be to stop calling them all "drop outs," which is a pretty pejorative term that doesn't really describe all the avenues that are taken.