Idaho Dropout Age

Idaho Dropout Age

An Idaho legislative committee narrowly defeated a bill to raise the dropout age to 18 today, largely because of the costs involved. It sounds like even those who voted against it did so with mixed feelings. From the February 11, 2009 Idaho Statesman:

Although several state education groups spoke in favor of the bill, the House Education Committee voted 9-8 against advancing the measure that sponsor Rep. Rich Jarvis, R-Meridian, said would keep children in school longer.
The state Department of Education had estimated the proposal could cost about $11 million, based on the estimated 1,890 students who dropped out of grades nine through 12 last year and how much it would have cost to keep them.
Rep. Pete Nielsen, R- Mountain Home, told the committee it is better to provide students with educational choices such as alternative schools than to force them to attend traditional classes.
"Are we willing to save a few kids with compulsion?" Nielsen said.
Nielsen said many Idaho schools already offer education options for students who may not be college bound, such as alternative schools, early graduation and work force training.
The bill's supporters argued that a 16-year-old doesn't have the mental capacity to make such a large decision.

I understand Rep. Nielsen's concerns on this. (He is one of my two representatives in the lower house.) But I agree with those who think that 16 is a bit young to making a decision like that.

Still, let's not get carried away with the likely consequences if this bill had passed. Idaho's dropout rate is actually better than I would have guessed. One of the commenters at the article linked above pointed to this data which shows that Idaho has the 13th highest graduation rate in the U.S. And we are doing way better than California--which has 18 as the dropout age. Idaho's 2006 high school graduation rate was 78.7%; California's was 65.8%.

I can remember being in high school, and seeing a teacher's add/drop list, and seeing the rather chilling explanation for several drops as "turned 18." These were students who decided that finishing the last few months of senior high school and getting a diploma just wasn't worth the time required.

Raise the dropout age to 18, if necessary. But let's start to work on the real issues that are why kids are dropping out. My guess is that many of them are coming from homes that are destructive or where education just isn't important. A social worker that I know who works in a mental hospital with kids says that for some patients, the most effective treatment might be a "parentectomy."