Should Maryland Students Be 18 To Drop Out?
Maryland's General Assembly is poised to approve a bill to increase the state's minimum dropout age from 16 to 17, and gradually to 18.
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Should Maryland require high school students to be 18 years old in order to drop out?
The General Assembly is expected to pass a bill proposing to increase Maryland's minimum school dropout age from 16 to 18 years old, according to a report by WTOP.
Express your opinion on the topic in the comments section below.
The change will align Maryland with Virginia and D.C., where the dropout age is already set at 18.
"Gov. Martin O'Malley is expected to sign the bill, which is on its third and final reading in the House," the report states.
The change — according to the bill — is gradual, with the minimum age first increasing to 17 on July 1, 2015, and to 18 two years later.
The bill provides some exceptions for students to dropout early, including: kids who graduate early or get a GED, are married or are in the military, provide financial support for their family, or are taking classes through an alternative program.
What do you think of the proposed legislation that will increase the Maryland's minimum dropout age to 18? Is the change justified or should it stay at 16? Tell us in the comments!
Shell9
11:26 pm on Monday, April 9, 2012
No I believe that it will make it harder on parents. Good parents who send their children to school then the child ditches as soon as they get there.They will have to pay a fine and or pulling them in front of a judge for something that they do not have any control over. If the student does stay then they become disruptive to other students. At this point, offer them an alternative. Give them a chance to go to night school. I would love to see children go till graduation but it may not be as simple as passing a bill. I don't think that teachers and staff are equipped to deal with disruptive students on a long term basis. It will create a strain.
DARRELL HAMMERBACKER
7:56 am on Tuesday, April 10, 2012
This Bill must be for the bad School districts and we know where they are.Most of these kids who drop out are trouble makers and if they haven't learned by that age,they aren't ever going to learn.These Kids need to learn a trade,something that they like to do,something that will get them on a path to see the fruits of good hard everyday work.But the Teachers need to TEACH !What do I mean by that? READING ,WRITING and a little Math and Votech.How do I know?Because I was one of them.
Shell9
6:42 pm on Tuesday, April 10, 2012
I agree w/ ya..I have several family members who dropped out. if they had the option of doing a trade in 9th grade they would have stayed. The hoops they have to jump through to get into the vo-tech schools now is horrible. It is a lottery system. Many kids are denied. So they quit. There are many teachers who don't teach. While there are many who do teach. But that is all they do is teach. They do not take a vested interest in their classes. Parents need to do their part too. I am horrible in Math. My math teachers felt the need to just pass me and didn't care if I knew it..Back in the day of Old Baltimore County when it was easy for teachers to just pass you. It would have been nice to be in a trade center early on so I wouldn't have had to waste my 20's trying to find myself...lol