Few in education circles ever believed that 16 was a proper age
for teens to be allowed to drop out of school. How, they
reasoned, can less education be a positive? They were right then
and now. Decades ago, though, it did make some sense to set up a
reasonable time for teens to leave the education system.
Families in those days often needed more full-time help on farms
or teenagers took jobs in mills to aid their moms and dads when
an economic crisis or tragedy arose. Sometimes teenagers simply
had to drop out of school. They had no other choice. Even then,
though, educators lamented it as a sum loss for not just the
students forced into such a situation but for the community in
general. An educated population is a more productive one, far
less prone to find trouble within society or with the law. Today
times are very different and the stakes substantially higher.
With few jobs, and even fewer good-paying jobs, available to
high school students, there is much more to potentially lose by
leaving school too ea