18 is the new 16

[Spencer]

I can actually hear Jane typing in something like, "See, you single issue people out there who opposed the Republicans over REAL ID and cost yourselves more freedom by allowing the anti-liberty folks to get elected in 2006, now you've gotten it."

The following story shows just how ridiculously bad government is -- especially Senator Easterbrook:

School dropout age is now 18

By NORMA LOVE
The Associated Press
21 hours, 46 minutes ago


Concord – Gov. John Lynch signed a law yesterday that raises the school dropout age from 16 to 18.

More than a dozen states, including California and Texas, already require students to stay in school until age 18.

Lynch, who campaigned hard for the change, said keeping students in school will prepare them for better jobs and help the state stay competitive.

"Too many of our kids are dropping out of high school, which puts at risk the future of these young people and our state's future economic success," Lynch said.

Currently, students can leave school at age 16 simply by meeting with the principal and getting signed approval from a parent or guardian. Lynch said that age was set in 1903 when dropouts could work in the mills or on farms and earn decent wages.

"Half a high school education is no longer enough," he said. "Students who leave high school at 16 have fewer opportunities for good jobs and better lives, and when kids leave school at 16, our state is losing the work force it needs for the future."

The new law requires students to have a plan for completing their education before leaving traditional classroom instruction. The plan could include work study, night school, preparing for a high school equivalency test or participating in alternative programs. Superintendents still can allow students to drop out.

The law exempts home-schooled children.

A similar bill passed the Senate last year, but got bogged down in the House. At the time, both chambers were controlled by Republicans. Democrats won control in November.

The bill's critics argued this year, as they did last year, for more study and for time vo let districts develop more alternative programs. But supporters said some schools need to be nudged to develop the alternatives, and raising the compulsory attendance age will provide that push.

Critics also argued the bill will take away parents' rights to decide when their children should be allowed to leave school, giving that power to superintendents instead.

Supporters countered that the bill gives parents more responsibility, not less, because of the requirement to develop an alternative education plan for the child.

Sen. Iris Estabrook, the prime sponsor, said the law forces kids to have a plan for their future, not simply to stay in school.

"It's really about how students succeed," she said.

The state Department of Education estimates the change will keep 1,100 students in school. The change will not take effect until mid-2009 to give the state and schools time to launch alternative programs. Lynch included an additional $4 million for alternative programs in the two-year state budget being voted on by lawmakers today.

A recent study by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation found students' reasons for dropping out vary widely. Boredom, pregnancy, drug use, drinking and academic failure are among the reasons.

The New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies released a report in September that concluded that one in five children drops out of school in the state. That was an improvement from an earlier study that found one in four left school. The center said the state undercounts dropouts and does not adequately track students who switch schools, undercutting the accuracy of dropout statistics.

Another study concluded that nearly half of all students with disabilities in the state drop out before graduating. Only two states, Wyoming and Indiana, have slightly higher dropout rates for that group. New Hampshire's rate was 47 percent in the 2004-2005 school year, the most recent figure available.

Since 1903, government has only grown and public schools have only gotten worse.  My great-grandmother taught in a one-room schoolhouse in a small Michigan farming community; those kids learned more than anyone who graduates college does these days (they were taught Latin, botany, chemistry, civics, and countless other subjects).  The class size was huge, there were no Individual Education Plans, and there were no teachers' unions.

It is clear that Governor Lynch doesn't see the real problem with the changes since 1903 -- the government has created continually more regulations, impediments to business and innovation, and made us (for the most part) worse off.  The governor is also selling people the idea that only people who get an education in a formal school setting in which kids are taught to obey a central authority figure (the teacher / administration) and do meaningless rote work (great for future corporate cogs) without questioning the system are desirable future workers.  Why not let people (including kids) pursue whatever they are interested in after they've learned the basics (preferably from their parents) -- like reading and simple math -- without requiring all sorts of permits, licenses, taxes, and classes?  A kid can't even open a lemonade stand these days without running afoul of some bureaucrat's rule or regulation.

[PinoX7]

sounds like another platform in the deliberate dumbing down of america
Keep them in school longer, get that collective mindset established, then release them at 18 so all the non-college students can compete over those cookie-cutter jobs.

Who knows, somebody at 16 could get that same job, and acctually establish a better wage because he had 2 extra years of work experience

[Fluff and Stuff]

This is really not that big a deal.  The kids can still homeschool which means they can really just drop out.  Plus, kids can drop out of school anywhere.  Just say you are moving.  That is how my brother dropped earlier than the state wanted.  He said he was moving, but he actually did move though he did not go back to school.

If you think outside the box, you can get around a lot of laws.  Harry Browne was good talking about this in How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World.

This law should not be hard to repeal in 4-6 years, either.

[CNHT]

This is really not that big a deal.  The kids can still homeschool which means they can really just drop out.  Plus, kids can drop out of school anywhere.  Just say you are moving.  That is how my brother dropped earlier than the state wanted.  He said he was moving, but he actually did move though he did not go back to school.

If you think outside the box, you can get around a lot of laws.  Harry Browne was good talking about this in How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World.

This law should not be hard to repeal in 4-6 years, either.

Well this is just typical of any do-gooder who came from the edu system -- Lynch was in charge of our universities before he was governor so I'm not surprised.

My kids would never set foot in the public schools.

[CNHT]

I can actually hear Jane typing in something like, "See, you single issue people out there who opposed the Republicans over REAL ID and cost yourselves more freedom by allowing the anti-liberty folks to get elected in 2006, now you've gotten it."

LOL is that bad or good?

Iris is a nightmare and will be replaced in '08

We have a whole lotta repealin' to do.

[error]

2008, yes, and 2010, when the first large batch of Free Staters will be running for state house.

[KBCraig]

Yes, 18 is the new 16.

A Master's is the new Bachelor's.

A Bachelor's is the new HS diploma.

A HS diploma is the new 8th grade education.

It is no coincidence that the longer children and teens are forced to sit through spirit-stifling mandatory education, they lose some of the best, most creative years of their lives.

[Spencer]

I can actually hear Jane typing in something like, "See, you single issue people out there who opposed the Republicans over REAL ID and cost yourselves more freedom by allowing the anti-liberty folks to get elected in 2006, now you've gotten it."

LOL is that bad or good?

Iris is a nightmare and will be replaced in '08

We have a whole lotta repealin' to do.

It is absolutely good; I see this forum as a family of freedom lovers (with occasional imposters), we all have our pet issues, and we all see things a little differently (which is good, of course).

[CNHT]

Well Iris is not new, she's been a perpetual thorn in our sides for years.

But like i said, there will be a campaign mounted to replace her.

I am willing to bet she got an F rating on the scorecard..........yep! She did, and the top 10 were all R's I note..





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[error]

The "top 10" of 24 isn't saying much these days.

[KBCraig]

The "top 10" of 24 isn't saying much these days.

Hey, I graduated third in my HS class... of 24.  (Biggest class they'd ever had to date; my sister's class four years earlier had eleven graduates.)

Hatfield, Arkiesaw... home to 400 happy people and a few old grumps.

[toowm]

There are already plans at the NH Department of Education to create new regulations for high school homeschoolers, so that the homeschool "exemption" isn't used to circumvent the law.

[Dreepa]

This law should not be hard to repeal in 4-6 years, either.

That... is a dangerous thought!

Once laws are in it is hard to repeal.... inertia.

[Fluff and Stuff]

This law should not be hard to repeal in 4-6 years, either.

That... is a dangerous thought!

Once laws are in it is hard to repeal.... inertia.

all that has to be repealed in the enforcement, the actual law can stand.  Enforcement is easy to repeal.  Just do it to say money so that more money can go to the child or something like that.

[cathypeschke]

- especially Senator Easterbrook:

Correction Comrade Easterbrook