Schools need more drop outs

It's time schools let some kids go
In recent months I have read numerous articles about the soaring cost of letting kids drop out of high school. Their options are limited, their earning power is retarded and they often end up in jail or on the government dole. And where I agree this is all bad, I say let them go because the truth is we can’t afford them. Society loses out on much more by trying to keep them.

Think about this, if your kid is in high school and his teacher spends just ten percent of the time redirecting that kid who no longer cares, then your kid has just lost out on 18 days worth of instruction over the course of a year. Sadly many of our teachers spend more than ten percent of their time dealing with the bad behavior of a few but the real cost to your children has just begun.

Say your kid needs extra help, well often they can’t get it because teachers have to spend so much of their time with just a few students. Some kids are just a kind word, a little attention or an inspirational speech away from getting over the hump but they don’t get it because often teachers are to worn out dealing with that handful of kids whose priority is cutting up not learning. What will your son or daughter miss out over the course of a lifetime because the system decided trying to save a few was more important than elevating the many?

Then there are the inappropriate lessons that good kids learn from these maladaptive kids that costs society in the long run as well. The school system is notoriously bad at giving consequences, and remember for a consequence to be effective they must be meaningful to kids and I am afraid forty-five minutes in study hall with their friends just doesn't cut it.

The system doesn’t want to suspend these kids either because they are afraid if they miss a few days they will keep on missing (let them). They don’t want to come down to hard because they figure they are just a breath away from dropping out (oh God please let them). Teachers all over the nation pray certain kids won’t show up so they can teach and thier other students can learn. I know numerous teachers who don’t write referrals anymore, preferring to endure toxic learning environments. They know nothing will happen or worse they will have their classroom management skills questioned and that could adversely affect their jobs.

If your son or daughter sees a handful of kids acting up over and over again and receiving no real consequences well they have just learned they can act up too. Is that a lesson you want them taking into adulthood. Is that a lesson that is going to serve them in college or in the workforce? No of course not and if you care about your children then you want them to be disciplined and responsible.

A lot of the kids the system is trying to nurse through are passed from grade to grade whether they have mastered the material or not. The system refuses to fail many because some study somewhere said kids that fail certain grades are more likely to drop out (please let them). We can’t afford summer school anymore so that's not an option either. Instead we pass them along without the skills they need and then they drag their classmates down with them.

Many teachers teach to the lowest common denominator (also a byproduct of standardized tests by the way) giving a disproportionate amount of time to the low kids in order to move them up. This means the fairly bright kid, or the kid with a bit of potential are sadly ignored. They aren’t nurtured or challenged. Imagine what these kids could accomplish and what they could be if they were pushed in the right direction. How many doctors, engineers, generals, inventors and scientists are we losing out on, because we decided that jerk in the third row should be passed along?

Sadly for some their bad behavior is not completely their fault. We force them into classes they have no business being in where they are in way over their head and then we wonder why they act up. Lacking discipline, a work ethic and the academic skills they need must be a terribly frustrating position to be in.

Then there are also no alternatives for many of these kids because we have gutted the teaching of trades and skills. Our leaders, and most have never been in the classroom, foolishly have an everybody is going to go to college mentality. If we are not going to commit to these kids with counselors and social workers because why kids act up in school has nothing to do with school, summer school, discipline rigor and alternate curriculums, then it’s time we cut our losses before they drag more kids down with them. The truth is we don’t always have the kids we wished we had, we have the kids we do and if we are not going to plan accordingly we risk more than we gain by keeping them.

The president, editorial boards and academics who aren’t in the classroom lament about the hardships that the kids that drop out endure. I lament for the borderline kid who learns inappropriate lessons from the bad kids. I lament for the bright kid who has their potential retarded. I lament for the brilliant kid who isn’t pushed to be all they can be and I wonder what cost society is paying as it makes saving a few who show they have no desire to be in school a priority, instead of concentrating on the majority that do. No Child Left Behind should be, we are leaving about ten percent of them behind until they straighten up. We could have tremendous addition with just a little bit of subtraction.

Now I am not saying we kick the hyperactive eight year old out, or let the sixth grader with ADHD slip through the cracks but if you are sixteen and you are more interested in acting up than learning it’s time we showed you the door. This isn’t a new train of thought either. Our courts routinely try kids under the age of 18 as adults and it seems the age gets younger and younger each year. It’s time we allowed schools to follow their lead, if we aren't going to do all it takes then we can no longer afford the alternative.