As a parent, I think it’s common sense for my kid to have a plan. However, sharing that plan with anyone else in the world is a whole other issue, and mandating that the plan be shared with others as a condition of receiving a high school diploma is really bothersome to me.
Presumably, that means that the parentally supported gap years other than work that seem to be popular on these forums are no longer acceptable?
Note that only about 30% of young people in the US meet US military recruitment standards.
My guess is that an issue on Chicago schools is that too many students graduate without a plan…
I think this one would be thrown out of the first court it was challenged in, while the goals of this might be in some ways a good thing, it is fundamentally the government using the high school diploma to leverage certain outcomes, and that would be seen as violating the student’s rights.
Rather than this, maybe they should have a mandatory class for kids that focus on the kind of life skills they will need, doing a job interview, writing a resume, navigating how to apply to school, what kind of school to apply to,how to get into a trades program (for example,how to get into a training program through a union in something like plumbing or electrical work as one example), and maybe in the class have the kid come up with plans for the future and how to go about making them happen. The kid for example who wants to go to collegee to be an engineer might put down the kind of classes they took in high school, list out schools they might apply to that have engineering programs where they could potentially get in, thinking about how to pay for it (applying for aid, getting scholarships, etc)…kid who wants to graduate and get a job, might think of the kids of jobs they could do, and a plan on how to find the jobs, apply to them and get them…not sure in the end if it was workable, but if the idea is to get the kid to at least think about their future, this might do something and wouldn’t violate any laws.
I think that such a class, perhaps a bimonthly one period class, would do a lot of good.
It is not a bad idea. It is bad reporting.
I set goals for myself on a routine basis. Mayor Emanuel wants students to think about their future. Nothing wrong with that at all.
Stupid stupid stupid.
It’s very clear that he has never actually worked with kids who are at risk of not graduating high school. Either that or he was too thick to absorb anything while working with them.
@romanigypsyeyes:
I tend to agree, which is one of the reasons I proposed the kind of class I did, the kind of kids at risk often lack the kind of basic skills others would take for granted and I think Emmanual somehow doesn’t realize that those kind of plans are things kids from better backgrounds pick up automatically, whereas many of these kids may be so caught up surviving they don’t even think about the future, and if they do they may not know how to go forward with it.
@ucbalumnus There was so such thing as “gap year” in my household however I totally would support it if needed. I’m sure there are provisions to what the mayor is attempting to do that are not clarified in the article. Again, I cannot wrap my head around why this is a bad thing.
FYI…At my daughters’ school, the future plans of each graduate is listed in the graduation program, whether it’s college, military or work force.
@MYOS1634 That’s our point, that it doesn’t make sense and I did read the article, not the headline. Internships are competitive and this is post HS, so not a college internship but not HS either.
I’m all for classes in HS to prep kids for life. I’ve long been a propensity of trade school over college for some kids. We’ve done a disservice by saying all need to go to college. But for a kid who hates school to start with and is just hanging in there for a diploma, this might be a motivator to just drop out instead of keep pushing. The diploma is for what has already been accomplished, not what lies ahead.
I agree they absolutely wouldn’t think about it in their own. Making it a graduation requirement though would put it on the form they complete with the guidance counselor. The kids I’m thinking of would enormously benefit from hearing that expectation freshman year - but they would absolutely need a class or support system to reach the expectation and it’d have to be mandatory for everyone or they wouldn’t go (whether it’d be mandatory for at-risk kids only or optional.)
It could be tweaked, provided the mayor is open to suggestions and doesn’t think he knows it all. Such politicians are annoying.
There is a difference between making it part of a class where you think through it and actually needing to have an offer in order to get your diploma.
I’m in favor of the former, dead-set against the last.
If all that is needed is a job, the outline of requirements should have said ‘job’ not train school or internship. I don’t think he should worry about the students earning the high school diplomas as much as those who don’t earn one, who drop out at 16.
100% of graduating students graduating with a written and approved by the school district post-grad plan while the overall graduation rate drops because some will blow off that plan - that would count as a huge success, right?
Seems like this is just political theater to get people talking about it. As noted above, it is trivial for every high school senior (including those who were shut out of college applications, go directly to the work force, or intend to take a gap year) to get an admission letter from a community college to fulfill the requirement. Getting admitted to the community college does not necessarily mean that the student will later enroll in any classes, so it comes with no obligation.
I wouldn’t call getting an admission letter from a CC “trivial.” Some have application fees. Some require going in and registering there (especially if an applicant doesn’t have reliable internet access). It requires knowing how to apply. Etc etc etc
It’s not trivial.
One serious issue is the possibility the community college admission letter may not be as automatic as one assumes as this policy may drive a flood of students requesting such letters that the community colleges may end up rejecting many requests due to lack of space.
A situation which happened in the NYC area community colleges some years ago(after 2008) when the flood of community college applicants overwhelmed the public community college system.
I just saw some statistics about the number of staff members in Chicago, including the following: 265 guidance counselors and 157 librarians in the 500 district-run schools. Maybe these children need more help.
Simplistic solution for a massively complex and subtle problem. Somebody was taking notes during the last election.
The kids we’re talking about here have been ignored and undeserved for their entire lives. The idea that you just tell them “get a plan” is absurd. Parents who make this a requirement for their own kids have almost certainly provided their kids with a lifetime’s worth of the tools, skills, and social capital needed to successfully reach the goals they set.
Yes, exactly!! Trying to solve a difficult and expensive problem that requires a major investment in money and time…with just making people have a pretend plan. Great, it’s all fixed now, right? No more crime and murders, the kids have a plan. Now we’ve taken care of the problem.