Today, in the New York Times, it was reported that Utah was not the only state talking about sending high school students out into the world early. Instead of one year lopped off to reduce costs, the various states involved in this plan have an idea for a plan to allow students who are deemed to be capable to graduate two years early, and be allowed to enter junior college two years early.
[slashdot]
“The NY Times reports that education commissioners in Connecticut, Kentucky, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont have pledged to sign up 10 to 20 schools each for a pilot project that would allow 10th graders who pass a battery of tests to get a diploma two years early and immediately enroll in community college. The new system of high school coursework with the accompanying board examinations is modeled largely on systems in high-performing nations including Denmark, England, Finland, France and Singapore. ‘We’ve looked at schools all over the world, and if you walk into a high school in the countries that use these board exams, you’ll see kids working hard, whether they want to be a carpenter or a brain surgeon.’ says Marc S. Tucker, president of the National Center on Education and the Economy. Kentucky’s commissioner of education, Terry Holliday, says high school graduation requirements have long been based on having students accumulate enough course credits to graduate. ‘We’ve been tied to seat time for 100 years. This would allow an approach based on subject mastery — a system based around move-on-when-ready,’ says Holliday. However some school officials are concerned about the social and emotional implications of 16-year-olds going off to college. ‘That’s far too young to be thrown into an environment with college students who are about 18 to 23 years old. … Most of them are just not mature enough to handle that,’ says Mary Anderson, headmaster of Pinkerton Academy.”
While I understand that last sentiment, from my observations, junior colleges have become little more than two extra years of high school anyway. The junior colleges these days have teachers doing such adolescent things as assigning homework (and checking it), taking attendance, and making part of the grade dependent on class participation.
When I was taking classes a few years ago, junior college was run just like a four year institution. Teachers did not care if you ever showed up to class, as long as you met class for mid-terms and finals, and that was what your grade was based upon – nothing else, save for possibly a term paper.
With this new system, it should not present a problem for any person over the age of 12.
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