Rahm Emanuel wants to require acceptance letters for high school graduation

[emailking]

Well I'm not a fan of this idea. If you meet the academic requirements to graduate, you should be able to graduate.

Maybe I could see some requirement that students explore their options. (Visit a community college, go to a college fair or talk or something.) But requiring them to actually apply (cost admission fees) much less be accepted is pretty silly since there's no requirement they pursue any of those 4 options after graduation. And you can be a productive member of society without going to college or joining the military.

[emailking]

What on earth is so bad about this?  Would you rather have the high schools just jettison people out into the world with no prospects for an independent future or would you want them held accountable for each and every student's advancement potential?  The options aren't limited to 4 year college acceptance.

That's why I said I could see the rationale behind a requirement to explore options.

What if they want to work in a business that doesn't need advanced degrees? Or even start their own business?

[emailking]

This is up there with school uniforms as bad ideas.

What's wrong with school uniforms?

They can be an undue burden on poor students and family's, and they get rid of the individuality that all students should have and need.

Do you have a good opinion on anything?

His opinion is perfectly fine.

[emailking]

There's nothing individualistic about what adolescents wear.

Disagree. But even if we accept your premise, at least they're choosing to wear the same stuff as everyone else, rather than having the school force it upon them.

I'd make the argument that uniforms place less burden on the poor. Eliminates designer labels, allows for Two or three school uniforms to be used by a student, and often times they are cheaper and have assistance programs

But unless they wear the uniforms as normal clothes outside of school, or get them completely for free, then they're still spending more on clothes than they otherwise would have.

[emailking]

Hmm, ok. I had uniforms and so never had the experience.

[emailking]

There's nothing individualistic about what adolescents wear.

Disagree. But even if we accept your premise, at least they're choosing to wear the same stuff as everyone else, rather than having the school force it upon them.

Exactly: We must teach our children that conforming to legitimate authority is much more important than conforming to peer pressure.

I would think that should be a parental issue if anything. But my point is that people, even children, should have the freedom to conform or not conform to peer pressure when it involves something as harmless as clothing, at least insofar as the government goes.

But I also disagree anyway with your premise that kids are not expressing their individuality in what they choose to wear.

[emailking]

Deciding whether to accept or reject peer pressure is far from an unforced, abstract choice. That's why the state must intervene on the side of reason.

I don't think it's abstract. I just don't see why the state should be involved in something so trivial. It's just clothing. We're not talking about peer pressure to do drugs or perform dangerous stunts or something. 

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Kids may be. Not teenagers though.

No I disagree with that as well actually. If anything, I think teenagers express themselves through their clothing more than kids do, since they typically select their own clothes, and often buy them themselves.

[emailking]

I don't think it's abstract. I just don't see why the state should be involved in something so trivial. It's just clothing. We're not talking about peer pressure to do drugs or perform dangerous stunts or something.

Schools have a responsibility to do more than educate: they have a responsibility to built up. Kids must be taught how to present themselves.

I'm not saying there can't be a dress code, but I thought we were talking about uniforms. Nobody presents themselves (or very few do anyway) through uniforms unless actually required to.

What I mean is that teenagers don't express themselves through what they wear - they express the group that they identify with.

But that, in and of itself, is an expression of themselves. And even within that dynamic, there is individual variation, far more than you get with uniforms.