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Story: Opinion
Mixed on Bumping Up Drop-out Age, 05/14/07
Reading Comprehension Questions: 1. What are some states doing to keep students from dropping out of school?
2. What are some challenges that educators face if a state raises the dropout age?
3. Why were the laws on school attendance established to allow a 16-year-old the right to drop out of school?
4. What disadvantages do drop outs face?
5. Why do students typically drop out of school?
6. Why do some critics object to raising the legal dropout age to 18?
Discussion Activity (more research might be needed): 1. What do you think? Look at the benefits and challenges of raising the age that kids can elect to drop out of school from 16 to 18. What recommendations would you make to the education leaders in your state? Explain your reasoning. 2. Some educators advocate creating a national system that accurately counts and tracks who is graduating from high school in this country. What are the challenges to creating such a system? Why might some educators resist creating such a system? What are the benefits of creating it? 3. Some educators say that students who don't want to be in school distract from those who do. What do you think? What should school systems do to create positive learning environments for all students? 4. Look at some of the research that compares the lives of high school drop outs in this country to those who graduate. What trends do you see? Write a 300-500 word essay on any of these topics providing clear examples. Send your completed editorial to NewsHour Extra (extra@newshour.org). Exceptional essays might be published on our Web site. |