Thursday, March 5, 2009

Mandating an "educated workforce"

Forcing would-be high school dropouts to stay in school would make sense if any evidence suggested it would magically create positive educational outcomes.

No such evidence exists.

But that won't stop The Louisville Courier-Journal. A Thursday editorial said:

"Raising the dropout age might cost $15 million per year, but, as the Governor himself has argued, government gets that money back many times over, from an educated workforce. And the way to save on housing tomorrow's prisoners is to keep them in school today."

The idea that spending $15 million a year holding teenagers against their will adds anything to the goal of gaining an "educated workforce" is completely ridiculous.

Rep. Brent Yonts, the sponsor of the bill in question, should perhaps call us back when he figures out a way to force high school dropouts to get engineering degrees.

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