Louisiana state legislators are working to pass a bill that will establish an alternative diploma option for Louisiana high school students. Currently, Louisiana suffers from a dropout rate of over 50%. The hope with the new bill is that students who are at risk of dropping out will stay in school in order to learn a trade (i.e. welding, car repair, carpentry), thereby graduating from high school with a modified diploma and a marketable skill.
According to The Advertiser, State Superintendent Paul Pastorek opposes this bill. While the article does not detail his objections, it does state that he—and other opponents—point to the fact that progress has been made in lowering the state's dropout rate. My argument to these opponents, however, deals with the level of marketability these students possess upon graduation.
Teaching twelfth graders in a high needs school, I see firsthand the number of students who manage to squeeze out a passing GPA and graduate, but who have not earned high enough marks to enter college. What good, at that point, are their traditional diplomas? They are still relegated to menial work, low income, no health care, and no prospects of anything better. Yes, they can enter a trade school, but with no funds to pay for these schools, they then become strapped down to student loans. So why not give them the opportunity to learn a trade while they are in public school, still learning the necessary academic skills they need, and not financing a tuition they must face repaying later?
Aside from this group of struggling students, I also work with young people (regular and special education) who are so overwhelmed by their academic deficits that the see no other option than dropping out. If they had the option of staying in school and learning a trade, so many more of these students would find success, both in and after school. How could that be a bad thing? How could that be something, especially someone in education, would oppose?
Society is changing more rapidly than anyone could have prepared for or predicted. Our state is one that values its sense of tradition and its resilience to being infected by a faster, modern societal pace. If, however, Louisiana is going to rise from the bottom of the rankings, we have to do something untraditional, out of the box, and out of our comfort zones. We have to do everything in our power not to fail the children of our state.
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