Utah Considers Cutting 12th Grade - Altogether

Growing up in Utah, (actually my best friend went to West Jordan High!) education is always on the back burner. My high school was a joke, and I ended up hardly going my senior year and not going at all the last semester and finishing my credits with after school classes. I was once told that Utah was the worse state in the country for putting funding into schools. This story doesn't surprise me at all.

I probably wasn't the best student in school and their were some days I realy didn't want to be there but when it was said and done I can safely it was some of the best years of my life.

End the war on drugs and then they will have enough money to double down on education and then some it makes cents to me.

see rage against the machine's song "know your enemy". these lawmakers are about as open with their desire to make everyone as stupid as possible as a politician could be

The United States is behind many countries in the education of math and science FACT. This is further proof of the conservatives dumbing down America.
Utah one of our most conservative staes. Is it not strange that its always a conservative republican or a conservative state who proposes these things. They send their kids to private school.
Some people may be ready for college earlier but as Spock said " the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" Many more need 12th grade than don't what a fg dumb idea

I wouldn’t have been ready for college without my senior year of high school. I did take a reduced course load that year, but it gave me a chance to focus more effort on getting into the right college.

No problemo: more time for the Mormon kids to head out on missionaries on their bikes! There's some real-world life experience for them!

In fact, make home schooling MANDATORY: that'll save the State some $$$ (and encourage intellectual incest, a winning combination in a State like Utah).

Why does education always get the axe when the budget is in crisis?

i live in Utah, and i didn't know this. but this is just stupid raise taxes on guns and tobacco products before you start chipping of education i mean when people are losing jobs and the world is becoming into more poverty im pretty sure education is really important then it keeps people from doing dumb shit.

you take off education in a time of disparity and youll have lots of crime

its my theory.

Well....Utah wouldn't be the first state to make 12th grade optional. Texas already did. If you gain all of the required credits you can graduate early, but very few people want to.

It don't think it really save much money. They have to take all the same classes regardless, and the ones who want to get a head start on college are just as disadvantaged as people who only have a GED.

A lot of people take dual credit courses as seniors anyway. It is beneficial only if you are not going to go to college and are living at a low economic level. In that case, you probably won't go anyway.

The thing about this that disturbs me is that they would consider cutting education before they would consider legalizing Cannabis, Prostitution, Gambling, or Psilocybin.

This would generate a ton of revenue and these things should be legal regardless of hardship.

I can't say that the proposal to make 12th grade optional would be such a bad idea. It depends on the level of over-all success in each school of students in their junior year, and whether their senior year is really wasted. At the same time, since the Senators of Utah would like to discuss ways in which they can better save tax payers' money, this should put their existing spending habits into careful examination. I'm sure there are a number of other ways that Utah might be wasting taxes, other then senior year of high school education. The people had better get on top of this!

Granted, most of my classes senior year were crazy relzaxed, but I did learn some stuff. And I learned a lot about the "real world." It was my last year to goof off and actually prep myself for college. Kids need their senior year.

And I do believe that senior year is already optional in a lot of places. If you've got all your credits you can just graduate early.

And to answer the queston of whether or not students are ready for the real world at 17, I started college at 17. I was fine. The real question is are they ready for the real world at 16. There's a big difference between 16 and 17. I wouldn't have been ready for college at 16.

Over the span of my career I've been able to save the government money by implementing new ideas and applying new technology. If I did not have the education I couldn't have done this. The money saved was no small amount - likely enough to pay for several college educations.

Education denied is money wasted, in my experience.

Instead of making this optional they should make it like an exam exemption. Depending on your grades, exam scores (Idk about you, but in my high school we took SAT/ACT junior year) and attendance, the school can issue you an option: exempt 12th or if you need too for graduation requirements or just because you want too: stay for a semester or the whole year. Personally, my last year was nothing but electives, I could've left, but I wanted to stay and experience my senior year, it's only once, for some;) and it really is a rite of passage lol

Yep. You could save a lot more money by eliminating all the other grades.

How much would the state really save by letting just some students skip senior year? Building are still open, teachers and staff are still there, seems to me like most of the same expenses would still be in place.

this is a generally bad idea, The issue is how desperate state govs are for money right now that cutting back education is a viable option. Of course 11th grade would become the new blowoff year for most, but a lot of students need all four years of high school. Also senioritis is a rite of passage

So... 11th grade will be the new 12th grade? How long until they realize 11th grade could save more money...? 10th grade? High School? Middle School?
Let's keep the masses as dumb as possible so they keep voting republicans (and sometimes democrat). That outta get society back on track.

This is the $>People trend that seems to be building steam with American ethics.

I don't think it would be such a bad idea to make 12th grade optional. Granted you'd have to make sure kids make informed and rational decisions (not just choosing to not take 12th grade because, sweet a SNOW YEAR!). All 12th grade is for is basically prepping for college, you've already completed most your credits and your standardized tests, all that's left are a few req classes or electives...sometimes kids don't even have full schedules.

Not to mention that not everyone is fit for college, some kids aren't going to be able to go and know this and some kids just don't want to go. So by making 12th grade optional maybe those who don't see college in their future can get started in their craft, skill jobs, or military careers instead of wasting a year skipping class and messing around at a school they don't need to be at.

It's an interesting idea...i'm gonna watch how this pans out

So barry obama is going to help pay for everyones college but some states can even afford to get ya through grade 12. This outta work out well.

Education reform?

Actually cutting year 12 might not be such a horrendous idea. I recall the only thing many people focused on were college entrance exams [ACT/SAT]. Actually, the school spend the vast majority of the year preparing us for said exams. Year 12 was pretty pointless. I'd taken more than enough English courses, Calc and Trig, and even a few extra science courses over the summer.

Why not cut the year and let those who prepared for college get on with their future and those who hadn't do what they would eventually do in a years time as it is.

Well, since they're not getting a GOOD education as it is, why the hell not? Send out even MORE totally unprepared, incompetent, uneducated to be a part of the productive U.S.A.