According to an article reported on WBALTV.com last week, Maryland senators amended legislation that would increase the drop-out age to 18 from 16 years old. Senate Bill 239 would go into full effect at the start of the 2013-2014 school year, requiring mandatory school attendance until age 18. During the 2012-2013 school year, however, the age will be 17. This legislation foots a $48.8 million dollar bill (for first-year implementation costs), so the governor and his budget play a crucial role in its passing. However, proponents say to take into consideration that the funding for the services for delinquent youth would most likely decrease due to the 2 more required years of schooling.
I believe that this bill would be beneficial to the youth of Baltimore City. Theoretically, the longer we legally require students to remain in school, the longer we have the opportunity to educate them, getting them, hopefully, to graduate high school. An increase in the number of high school graduates would without a doubt begin to transform the City. While the effects may take many years to become noticeable, I think that this is a wonderful step in the right direction. I do realize that traditional schooling may not be the easiest path for every student, and that the 18 year-old dropout age may create new issues in school (behavioral and academic), however I think that these issues maybe necessary outcomes of a process that yearns to better the citizens of Baltimore.
http://www.wbaltv.com/education/22852118/detail.html
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I think that one potential problem with raising the dropout age in Maryland is that it may create more classroom management issues for teachers. This means that, particularly in high school, not only will there be larger class sizes, but also a new breed of discipline problems that stem from a combination of students who are either not motivated to be in the classroom or are much older than the rest of the students in the class. Moreover, an increase in the number of older students may cause greater disparities in classroom learning abilities. For instance, if we currently have students coming into high school 3-5 years below grade level who are not able to make any progress in high school, they will become further and further behind as they increase in age, and may make teaching in the inclusion classroom much more difficult. Still further, with a lack of funding that public school districts already have from State and Federal sources, how will the state of Maryland be able to allocate the resources necessary to pay for the increased pupil costs?
The other side of the story, of course, is that keeping students in school until they are eighteen years old will most likely reduce the number of juvenile crimes committed. Not only will raising the dropout age keep students off of the street, but it will also allow more students to see the potential of attaining a high school diploma. It seems undoubtedly true that having students stay in school until their potential senior year of high school will increase graduation rates. I have always been a strong believer in the power that one or two teachers have in inspiring and redefining the expectations that certain students have for themselves. If students are forced to be in school an additional two years of their lives, this will only increase the likelihood that these students may encounter the teacher that inspires them to greatness. In all, I am a strong supporter of raising the dropout rate, and, despite the inherent flaws that may come with the new age limit, feel that it would not hurt to implement the change and analyze the data for several years to see if the intervention is truly effective.
I agree that raising the dropout age in Maryland could create more classroom management issues for teachers. I was talking about this with my students who were of the opinion that if a student wants to drop out, they are not going to let a law stop them. I know a student at our school who, instead of dropping out, transferred to an alternative school where she has been quite successful. I think that if increasing the dropout age could also be accompanied by the availability of alternative schools, that this could have positive results. However, if the law is passed with no support, I could definitely see it creating a problem in classroom management.
Post a Comment