It’s the story of a girl. A girl who drops out of high school. For what reason, I’m not sure. Does it matter? Our fault, hers, life got in the way, not enough support–either way she left us without a diploma.
What happens to a drop out ten years after high school? What opportunities does he find, what obstacles? Does he find gainful employment? Can she get hired anywhere?
What about here? Do we hire one of our own former students who never graduated? One who’s raising a family in our community and trying to make it, one who wants to work and provide a life for her kids? Do we hire that boy who carries the stigma of drop out his whole life? Do we hire him to work in the cafeteria or as a grounds keeper helper or to clean our buildings?
It’s honest, hard work. People to work cleaning up after the 1000+ kids and 200+ adults who course through our buildings every day. . . there isn’t a long line of people looking for this work. The cleaners and custodians we have now work hard to get it done and it’s a thankless job most of the time. I treasure them for cleaning up after the rest of us. Substitute cleaners? Even harder to find.
So as an institution dedicated to learning with an end game of graduation, do we exclude people from work who don’t hold that diploma? Because that’s what our procedure states and it’s just not feeling right to me.
I get that it’s us saying, “a diploma is so important to us that we’re going to require everyone who works here to have one”. I struggle with the idea that we’re kicking someone in the teeth who as an adult must feel every day the consequences of the decision to drop out. I’m not sure what that’s accomplishing?
Academia created this monster for signaling purposes, but it doesn’t always work for the same reason tests can’t be authentic metrics for ability and achievement.
If we can’t admit it on the policy level, we are worse than idiots. We are perpetrating a lie.
The scary thing is that when it comes to a high school diploma (and even more and more a college diploma) we credential people for the sake of the credential. There is nothing inherent in the jobs you describe that need a high school diploma. I agree, making it a requirement for the sake of the requirement negates any of the skills, work ethic, life experience and commitment the person may have that were not part of their high school experience.
Thanks for calling out what is, in the end, an unfair practice.
I think the drop-outs from a high school have either one of two powerful messages for students.
1. I dropped out and now my life is difficult because I can’t find work.
2. I dropped out an have been successful anyway because of x…
Either way, these messages are a useful thing to share in the community. Students who are considering dropping out might be able to see one of these messages and go, okay so how do I avoid/embrace that?