Comments on: A modest proposal…

By: Monroe on a Budget

Monroe on a Budget — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 01:40:05 +0000

Actually, Wanda’s concept is not an unusual idea. It’s just not been very popular. My grandmother and her sister attended a vocational high school during the 1930s! They alternated between work and school assignments until graduation.

By: !wanda

!wanda — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:12:02 +0000

Being finished with school is currently a rite of passage for being an “adult.” Delaying college entrance might simply extend adolescence, which is the opposite of what you would like and what most people need.

I’ve had an idea for a long time for a school system that would steer nearly all children starting in 10th grade into a half-time school/ half-time apprenticeship program to learn a trade, either the traditional trades or modern trades like computer programming. There would be a great deal of flexibility in allowing a child to switch between the “academic” and trade tracks and between trade tracks. This would have to be accompanied by more effective and intense teaching in earlier grades. This system would give adolescents real responsibilities and more contact with adults early on, as well as marketable skills. Students would also, hopefully, see more of the relevance of the stuff taught in school. Of course, my suggestion requires dismantling most of current public school system. If I only had a billion dollars to purchase a school system…

By: Chance

Chance — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:21:28 +0000

I’m so with you on this program — and my opinion is also based on years of university teaching. One refinement I might make is for the slacker option — some people are greatly assisted, after being overachievers in high school, by slacking, traveling about, making art. These are the kids who have the nominal maturity, but lack the capacity for fun and curiosity. You *know* who I am talking about. The ones who think learning is instrumental, merely a means to the end. The ones who want to know “Will this be on the test?” The slacker option wouldn’t be paid because the option is for…well, slackers. Basically, I think the minimum age for college should be 21.

By: funnyaboutmoney1

funnyaboutmoney1 — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:17:04 +0000

That’s true: some kids are plenty ready for college at 16 or 17. However, they’re part of a steadily shrinking minority.

And in our culture, getting out of the parental home is an important rite of passage. This scheme would not require that high-school kids continue to live at home.

If you could join a nationwide program that would hire you to do community service work, teach you some skills in the process, and either put you up in hostel-like accommodations or pay you enough that you could afford an apartment, that would get you out of the house–and, with any luck, out of the state.

On the other hand, if you were already reasonably mature and staying with your parents another couple of years would not drive you or them mad, working for two years would allow you to put aside most or all of your take-home pay in a college savings account. Or it might allow you to buy yourself a car or a good computer, both of which are major expenses that parents usually end up paying for their college-age kids.

By: !wanda

!wanda — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 17:37:25 +0000

Well, plus a waiver for demonstrating maturity- I know plenty of people who graduated college at age 20 who are fine. Also, I know that getting out of my parent’s house was the most important factor in my maturation. That would have simply been delayed 2 years if I couldn’t go to college.