16 is Too Young to Quit school in New Economy

I found this editorial from "USA Today, 16 is too young to quit school in new economy"  is very interesting. Its general theme is focusing on the unemployment situation in the United States economy and would be of interest to anyone worried about our economy and labor workforce troubles. The main idea of the article is that we need to keep our students in school so they have a good chance in not being just a statistic in the unemployment rate.

 The article is sort of agreeing with the President’s urging that every state should require that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18. Noting that President Obama mentioned in his State of the Union address that, "When students don't walk away from their education, more of them walk the stage to get their diploma.” The editorial points out that this is not a fix to the unemployment problem but would help greatly in some states where a student is allowed to dropout when they are 16-year-olds. The article does a good job providing evidences for its opinion and does bring up opponents questions.


I basically agree with much of the editorial. I agree that students should stay in school to get at least a high school diploma. Facts and statistics show that people without a high school degree are more prone to financial difficulties as well as other social troubles. But just raising the age one is allowed to dropout from school is not a solution. Forcing people to stay in school that do not want to stay in school may not help them, the economy or the workforce. Students in high school may not like school for many different reasons. Besides boredom, supporting families and other issues mentioned in the articles as reasons for dropout there are many others not mentioned. The environment in the school can be uncomfortable to many students. Bullying, poor teachers, public humiliation, troublemakers…the list can go on. We will need other ways to build and help our workforce. More options for schools, developing more and earlier workforce alternatives to learn good paying job skills (electricians, plumbers, and craftsmen), school work programs, creating a better environment at school and home are better solutions. But all these solutions are complex, more so than just forcing students to stay in school until they are 18.