[AAACE-NLA] Raising mandatory age to 18 (Whoa!)

[Mechem, Richard]

What is this, Nazi Germany?
 
There is no other part of our society where if the "customer" does not
desire the services offered, we blame the "customer." The public schools are
not meeting the needs of a critical mass of our 16- to 19-year-olds; if they
were, the kids would go to school. To me it's the height of hubris to state,
hint at, suggest, or otherwise imply that the schools are fine so therefore
the fault must lie with the kids: that's crazy-talk. In fact, the great bulk
of the public schools are deeply flawed, designed for a Leave-It-To-Beaver
world that certainly does not exist today (if it ever did in the first
place). As Bill Gates said, "America's high schools are obsolete. By
'obsolete' I don't just mean that they're broken, flawed, or underfunded,
though a case could be made for every one of those points. By 'obsolete,' I
mean our high schools---even when they're working as designed---cannot teach
all our students what they need to know today."
 
There are actually people out there who think it's educationally sound to
force more people who don't want to be there into a school rather than to
have fewer of the disgruntled and the recalcitrant? The schools need to be
re-thought and re-designed, and there needs to be a lot of different kinds
of schools in a community, not just one:

*	(Much) smaller classes
*	Differentiated instruction
*	More intense, shorter school days (to accommodate parents and
workers)
*	1000% increase in distance-learning possibilities

"My teachers could have ridden with Jesse James for all the time they stole
from me." - Richard Brautigan
 
Tom Mechem
GED State Chief Examiner
Massachusetts Department of Education
781-338-6621
"GED to Ph.D."

-----Original Message-----
From: aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org
[mailto:aaace-nla-bounces at lists.literacytent.org]On Behalf Of
Russell.Smith at doc.mo.gov
Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 4:59 PM
To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org
Subject: Re: [AAACE-NLA] Raising mandatory age to 18


I think it's an excellent idea, particularly if they tie dropping out to
driving privileges.

  _____  

From: Marcia.Hess at state.sd.us [mailto:Marcia.Hess at state.sd.us] 
Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 3:40 PM
To: aaace-nla at lists.literacytent.org
Subject: [AAACE-NLA] Raising mandatory age to 18



Is there discussion in other states about raising the mandatory age of
attendance in K-12 school from 16 to 18?  I am hearing rumors this is a push
in all states.  Also what people think about that?

Marcia

 

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