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>The bar (which is already dismally low) will have to be lowered further for them to graduate, and how/when will it ever be raised back again? You don't have t
by CodeMage 6y ago
>The bar (which is already dismally low) will have to be lowered further for them to graduate, and how/when will it ever be raised back again?
You don't have to lower the bar. There are other options. There is no fundamental law of physics that says a generation has to graduate at age X, so we -- the society -- should be perfectly able to delay that process for a year, instead of lowering the bar.
That said, there's something deeply wrong either with the society as a whole or with the HN audience if you read "poor kids roam the street like packs of feral dogs asking for money for food" and you say that the biggest long term problem is the lowering of the bar because kids skipped school.
- logfromblammo 6y agoThe longer you delay graduation past the age of legal majority, the more students will drop out and [attempt to] enter the workforce. Not every kid is willing and able to live with their current parent or guardian after they are legally able to either move out on their own or be evicted. It's not a law of physics, but there are a lot of pitiable kids out there who have never even caught a whiff of good fortune in their lives, and the US lacks the social sensitivity to make them feel secure enough to add another year of high school to their pile of problems.
- CodeMage 6y ago> It's not a law of physics, but there are a lot of pitiable kids out there who have never even caught a whiff of good fortune in their lives, and the US lacks the social sensitivity to make them feel secure enough to add another year of high school to their pile of problems. Yes, that's why there are "poor kids roaming the street like packs of feral dogs" in the first place, in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. That's the big problem. So let's not pretend that lowering the bar is what's going to make those kids catch a whiff of good fortune. The US system grinds people like that into dirt and that won't change with a single decision, be that decision to add a school year or to lower the bar.
- logfromblammo 6y agoI am not advocating lowering any bars. I'm just saying that those kids are as screwed now as they have ever been, and that this particular misfortune will not play in their favor in the future, as employers, government, and nongovernment institutions will be just as unsympathetic then as they are now. A sufficient proportion of the US is willing to let those kids fall by the wayside, rather than do whatever can be done to boost them over this hurdle. It won't be adding another school year, and it won't be lowering the bar. It might be by providing housing, food, and petty spending allowance for over-18 kids still attempting to finish their high-school diploma.
- CodeMage 6y ago>I am not advocating lowering any bars. Sorry, I misinterpreted your reply. My comment was a reply to a comment about lowering the bar and I thought you were arguing that same point. >I'm just saying that those kids are as screwed now as they have ever been, and that this particular misfortune will not play in their favor in the future, as employers, government, and nongovernment institutions will be just as unsympathetic then as they are now. I completely agree with that assessment.
- s5300 6y agoHahaha... delay that process for a year... Poster, you're so out of touch. So far. You have no idea of these kids home lives. Heads up: they give zero fucks about government mandated school education.
- CodeMage 6y agoPlease, let's not assume things we don't know about each other. Whether I've known kids like that is something you have no idea about, along with where I've lived, who I've gone to school with, etc.