<p>The proposal says nothing about introducing a more challenging curriculum, just eliminating 12th grade, not eliminating kindergarten and first grade.
Utah is known for having a challenging curriculum and its dropout rate is already very high.</p>
<p>As far as I know, there is nothing to prevent college-ready students from graduating early. My S did so. But the proposal is to eliminate 12th grade, not just to allow early graduation. It won’t save school districts money to merely allow early graduation because most students just are not qualified to graduate early.</p>
<p>Four years of English and four years of math do not constitute an excessive requirement, especially when one considers the lack of college-readiness of so many students. What might be a better solution if to provide vocational tracks as is done in many countries for students who are not academically inclined but need to learn skills in order to be self-supporting. But this flies against the American egalitarian ethos.</p>
<p>I agree with the second statement, but not the first. </p>
<p>The Utah public high school curriculum is very weak, with very low graduation requirements – 2 years of math, 2 years of science, and NO foreign language. Utah, for a state that is supposedly such a wonderful place to live according to a number of surveys, has the <em>second-lowest</em> spending per student in the nation!! The teachers are some of the lowest-paid also. Pathetic. Too many children, not enough tax payers.</p>
<p>The US has already fallen SO far behind many other developed nations in the level of educational accomplishment of our students, especially in the sciences and math. Should we fall even further behind? I think that 12th grade should be encouraged to be a strong year academically, as a better step to post-secondary education, not done away with because it may be seen as ineffectual. </p>
<p>The infamous Sen. Buttars also has stated that gays are the “biggest threat” to America today. This has nothing to do with the education discussion, but just as a matter of reference of what this guy is like. Utah is backward in many ways, but Buttars makes other legislators in the state seem almost mainstream.</p>
<p>OOPS. I apologize for my typo. I meant to say that Utah is NOT known for having a strong curriculum. And Bengalmom makes the point I meant to make. Thank you!!</p>
<p>Are you talking about the Soviet Union, China, and other countries in the communist block 50 years ago? I think most of them have 12 grade system now.</p>
<p>Buttars original proposal WAS to scrap 12th (and 11th( grade, but he tuned it down after the universal reaction here was pretty much “WHAT?” Buttars is known locally for being way out there on a lot of things.</p>
<p>I’d be in favor of it as long as teaching intelligent design was a 12th grade elective. Push all the wack-o ideas to 12th grade, and then eliminate the necessity of taking them. (just kidding). </p>
<p>As for the suggestion that public school money follow the early graduate, why not extend the idea - why not pay an 11 or 12 year stipend to all the childless property tax payers in a district? For that matter, can I get a rebate on my taxes because I’ve never called the police to my home? </p>
<p>What’s frightening about this proposed legislation is the fact that an elected official hasn’t thought one inch beyond his crackpot idea to realize there’s nothing stopping a student from graduating in 11th grade now (thus no need to legislate) and that there might be some problems with the legislation. It wouldn’t surprise me if the legislator is also a proponent of smaller government (except, of course, anything involving ‘gays’.) You get what you vote for.</p>