Rahm Emanuel wants to require acceptance letters for high school graduation

[Rjjr77]

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Chicago Tribune

This idea just sounds foolish to me.  The student debt crisis exists in part because we force on people the idea that one must have some type of formal training after high school to be successful at all.  Not all high school graduates are prepared for college and plenty of people don't want or need college.  There's blue collar work, starting your own business, pursuing a career in the arts, etc.  The only thing this guarantees is a mountain of debt for people who otherwise wouldn't feel compelled to apply at these schools.

If the city passes this, it will probably (hopefully) be blocked by the courts because acceptance letters are not required by state law.  I'm not sure how the city would enforce this, either.

There goes professional baseball and overseas professional basketball possibilities. Same with acting and other art careers.
And God forbid someone with a disability wants to graduate high school

[Rjjr77]

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.

There's nothing individualistic about what adolescents wear.

The adolescents think there is, and self-perception is important at that age. (N.B. I've never felt and still don't feel obliged to strong opinion on school uniforms as such.)

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

[Rjjr77]

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.

Not really, quite a few families make a major expense of buying nicer school clothes for their children, this includes all levels of income. Being able to buy a couple uniforms for school would be cheaper than buying several school outfits. Something parents sacrifice to do all the time.