I just read an interesting article, found via yahoo, but the article appears in Time magazine’s web site originally, it talks about a movement to allow kids to graduate at the tenth grade level. I found this interesting for several reasons, first and foremost, I tried to graduate (by taking the GED) at the tenth grade level so I could move on college. Secondly, it is rare to see news stories that talk about rights and responsibilities for teens or kids. It’s almost a given that since they can’t vote, just ignore them as second hand citizens.
I think it is an excellent idea to allow kids to test out of the last two year of high school, allow them to move on college or careers faster! Today’s kids have access to learning materials that allows many of them to know more about using computers than college degreed computer science majors of a decade ago. This gives them a quick start into jobs in the tech field, and if they wanted to focus on an area in college at the tenth grade, go for it! I tried to do that, and ran into so much red tape about minimum ages to take the GED that it ultimately took me 3 years to get it done.
People have the tools and technology to learn much more, much faster, why should we continue to help them back?
On a similar thought process, I agree that those you have good English skills can learn from lectures in fast forward, read the comments at the wired campus blog for more. Now if we can just get all of the online video courses to have a pitch control to speed up otherwise slow learning presentation!
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2 responses to “Teens should be able to graduate at the 10th grade level”
The only drawback is that many employers will not hire anyone under the age of 18, and many parents are reluctant to let their children attend college at such a young age. When I was in school, the school wanted to let me “skip” a couple of grades but my parents refused to allow it. They said they didn’t want a 16 year old girl “out of high school” and “getting bored and into trouble” even though my intentions were to go to college.
I feel for you Paige! If my plans to attend college at 15 were caught up in state law red tape that refused my taking the GED at that age, y life may have turned out quite different. Instead, I got bored in high school and found trouble there – lol