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Chicago To Make Future Plans a Graduation Requirement (thehill.com)
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanual's recently approved plan will require high school students show their plans for the future before obtaining their diploma. "Students will soon have to show that they've secured a job or received a letter of acceptance to college, a trade apprenticeship, a gap year program or the military in order to graduate," reports The Hill. From the report: "We are going to help kids have a plan, because they're going to need it to succeed," Emanuel told the Post. "You cannot have kids think that 12th grade is done." But critics say the district may not be able to provide mentoring to help needy students when the rule takes effect in 2020. "It sounds good on paper, but the problem is that when you've cut the number of counselors in schools, when you've cut the kind of services that kids need, who is going to do this work?" Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, told the Post. "If you've done the work to earn a diploma, then you should get a diploma. Because if you don't, you are forcing kids into more poverty."
This is really an excellent thing to do. If they have the resources in counselors to handle it, it's really a great idea,
Well, it should be fairly easy to gauge whether or not they have enough counselors to handle it. Just watch the stats on high school graduation rate. My guess is that, in a place like Chicago, they are just about to plummet. It's kind of shocking to think that they are going to gamble the future of a generation of children based on whether or not they have enough competent councilors. But, sure, if they do have enough, it'll be glorious!
What about a girl completing high school who just wants to marry and have some kids? Being a homemaker doesnt seem to be one of the prescribed choices! This is the central planner way of micromanaging everyone's life. If the kids show competency required to finish high school, give them their diploma. Not everyone knows what they want to be, nor does everyone actually become what they profess to want to be. I remember as a kid hearing about communist Russia dictating who would be what when they grew up. Seems we are moving in that direction - for the betterment of the dear citizens of course.