Michigan House Approved Increase in High School Dropout Age

There is a bill in the legislature that considers moving the high school dropout age from 16 to 18 years old.  House Bill 4030 was passed by the house and was transmitted to the Senate changed the age required for teenagers to dropout of school to 18 years old. 

Of course, the deliberation about the age change has two sides.  Do we really want to keep kids in school if they don’t want to be there?  The consequence of this is spending monies on students that don’t want to be educated in the traditional manner.  And on the flip side, maybe 16 is not an old enough age to make a decision like this.

Either way, I would think that changing the program to allow for alternative education for students that are over 16 would be more productive.  For example, allowing a decision to move students to a trade education from 16-18 instead of allowing them to drop out. 

In any event, it would seem that there should be better alternatives then only between dropping out at 16 or 18.  We need to advance our education system, but we need to make sure the output is actually advancing!