This ass nugget is not referring to homeschooled kids (which in most districts have to get a GED as the local high school won’t give them a diploma) and you know it.
So I think it’s pretty reasonable to assume I was also not referring to homeschooled GED kids.
For another example, my mother has a GED because she dropped out of high school to take care of her sick mother (she was the last one at home).
Remember that most kids go to high school because they’re supposed to, but people get a GED because they want to. Which one do you think shows more initiative?
:rolleyes:
There aren’t enough rolleyes in the world to address this bullshit.
Your story reminds me of a co-worker who told me his wife could not pick up their kid from their school early one day to get to a dentists appointment because “no child is allowed in the halls between classes for ANY reason” - the reason for the policy was given as being “Columbine.” Reputedly, when she insisted they deliver her legal child to her as the legal parent and guardian, they told her that she “would be arrested” for “acting like a terrorist” and she had better sit down and shut up if she wanted them to get her child out of school at all, and the secretary there actually started mentioning “the Patriot Act” as her defense for holding the child. Meanwhile no less than 4 rent-a-cops showed up to make sure that a 150-pound housewife daring to take her child to the dentist was not in fact an Iraqi suicide bomber somehow about 7,000 miles off-course.
Unfortunately, they could not choose a private school due to being in debt to their eyebrows, since getting a two new Escalades every couple years was more important to their lifestyle.
Nonsense! You learned this:
Many people go their whole lives without learning that our entire primary education system is designed to turn out compliant sheep.
Oh, come on! High school’s not that baa-aa-aa-aa-d!
Not snarking, honestly—are these jobs that have a future? For instance, the military: it wouldn’t be my cup of tea, but they can take a 17 year-old, feed and shelter him, and train him. He can do pretty well for a person with few skills and if he survives the experience, he might have a career path there. He could have benefits with the VA etc., could support a family, and so on.
And people can work at a local business, put in the hours and climb their way up to manager. A friend of mine started college with me but it just wasn’t for him and he still works at the local market but he’s not management, 25 years later. He really likes the work (to each his own) but it seems to be a dead end. E.g. will he ever be able to retire?
Re: the GED. That wasn’t the scenario I proposed…I’m talking about a kid who quit school and that was that. The choice: a kid who didn’t finish high school (no GED or further education) and a kid who graduated.
Sure, I’ve done something like that but not usually in that order (FIRST I found the next job, THEN I quit). If you have a skill that’s valued, the employer is likely to make your job bearable enough that you won’t want to quit. If you’re doing a job that anybody can do, like sweeping the floor, then they don’t have to treat you well at all.
The article is saying that kids who will be monitored couldn’t wear the bracelets only on school days because many are runaways among them. My WAG is that the parents aren’t fighting this (and may be welcoming it).
IANAL but it would seem like a 16 year-old can’t have the privilege of an adult and the responsibility of a child. If you let them drop out at 16, without parental permission, then I wouldn’t make the parents responsible for them any more. E.g. Johnny decides to drop out of school against their wishes, gets into a boatload of trouble, and the parents are on the hook for it? IMO, 16 is too young to take on adult responsibilities, but YMMV.
If, on the other hand, the parents are legally responsible for their minor children, they have a stake in the school decision. They can say, “Shit! They’re putting an ankle bracelet on you? Who are these fascists? OK, that does it; where do I sign to take you out of public schools?” That may be followed by:
A) We’ll home school you
B) We’ll put you in a private school
C) You’ll study for your GED
D) We’ll find you a job
E) We really have no plan beyond that.
Make the 16 and 17 year-old legally responsible as adults for all their actions and I might agree with you.
It’s always interesting to read the posts about how bad education is in other places. My public schools (K-12) were great; I can only think of one teacher who was a total dud and a couple who were jerks. I wouldn’t say all students were “into” school big time, but there was basic respect between teachers and students.
I dropped out at 17; wish I’d done it earlier. However, while I was enrolled, I never skipped; I dutifully wasted my time in classes about stuff I’d learned years earlier on my own.
When you treat children like prisoners, they act like prisoners. If you treat kids with some respect for their basic human dignity, they stand a greater chance of acting like people who deserve respect. I firmly believe that every “keep 'em in line” restriction we put on high school students pays itself in misbehavior. How can you expect a student to respect your institution and authority if you treat them like shit?
If students aren’t in school, this means that school for some reason isn’t serving them well. I’ve know smart drop outs who simply wanted to get a GED and start taking college classes so they could sit through a class without raising their hand to go pee. I knew less-smart drop outs who just didn’t like school. I knew “hard times” drop outs who quit so they could help take care of the siblings/parents/whatever. Not every student comes from an easy place. There are tons of students who have to work to support themselves and even their families. I’ve known student who at 18 were kicked out of their foster homes and had no means of support, but still forced to go to school full time. Not an easy life at all and I don’t blame them at all if they say “fuck it” and focusing on what they need to do to not be homeless.
Anyway, we should look at why these kids are dropping out and how we can make schools better serve their needs as citizens. Occupational training programs, independent study programs, schools with day cares, etc are all things that can help students who don’t do well in traditional classrooms thrives. Not always, but for some a non-traditional classroom is exactly what they need. In any case, it’s a better shot than locking them in against their will.
Furthermore, kids who truly don’t want to be there disrupt classes and take away resources from everyone. They lower the level of learning after all. Find them something else to do, I say. There is always adult school if they change their mind later.
Most prisons have G.E.D. programs, too.
You had to come in and talk all reasonable and whatnot! 
For what it’s worth, I agree with you. I was going to agree with you in the GQ thread, but I got too pissed off while typing and brought it here.
If you treat people like criminals, you’re going to get criminals. The police, high schools, and the RIAA would do well to take that statement to heart.
Ah, see, I do consider that education includes behavior. As a friend once told me, “I send my children to school to be instructed, I educate them myself,” but see, my friend is a responsible mother. Lots of parents think that their woodlyoodly’ums will go from tantrum-throwing brat to engineer without the intervention of either said parents or the army.
Not that I have the slightest notion whether you were tantrum-prone, of course.