Raising high school dropout age once again considered by South Carolina lawmakers

6-0 voting on Tuesday to raise House subcommittee bill to raise the minimum age of South Carolina from 17 to 18 years - advanced one step more than the past two years ago.

Currently, South Carolina students have to go to school until their 17th birthday or graduation. Nationwide, school dropout age is the middle of the road.

As of 2015, the National Education Statistics Center designated 15 age dropout age 16 years, 11 states 17 years old, 24 states and Colombia special district 18 years old.

A supporter of the idea said that it will help raise South Carolina 's high school graduation rate and encourage struggling students to stick to it for another year. One of the earliest sponsors of the bill was Jerry Govan of Delhi Orange who was also the true officer of the Orange County School.

He said that if the age of dropout goes up, the school district should promise to support dropouts.

"If we promise to take better action at the intervention level, we can put these children on the right track," Govan said.

In South Carolina state, like other places, suspicious people who raise the dropout age say they solve the symptoms rather than the fundamental problem.

In the 2011 study by the Baltimore Education Research Alliance, researchers looked at nine second-year Baltimore students and decided that attending 9th grade and improving the passing rate is "the most important means to increase graduation rate" did.

This is not the first time that South Carolina members decided to raise the age of dropout from 17 to 18. Similar 2010 bill could not be a member of the House Committee

Another bill failed in January 2016 after most Democratic sponsor submitted it in advance. Republicans of the K - 12 Education Sub - Committee questioned whether this change would improve the academic community and end the discussion.

This year's bill is H 4309 by five Republican sponsors including Charleston's Lynn Bennett Rep. Unanimously passed the K-12 Subcommittee

Mark Epstein is a pre-retirement guidance and career counselor at Charleston County School, one of the most lively promoting ideas since 2015. Epstein after years working with dangerous students who are planning to quit the 17th birthday, Epstein said it is important for those students to mature the years and consider the results of their decision It was said.

Mr. Epstein said, "It may be too small to be considered as a dropout scholar for 16 and a half years, so it may make society simple and clear." "They no longer have to think like this, which will change everyone's thought process."

According to the Ministry of Secondary Education, the state dropout rate rose to about 6% in 4 years, then declined to 3% in 2015-16. Non white men have the best dropout rate of 8%

According to the report, 25% of dropouts occur in 9th graders, 28% in 10th graders, 26% in 11th graders, and 21% in 12th graders.

Kentucky and Maryland have recently raised the statutory age of dropout students. Kentucky has raised the dropout age from 16 to 18, but Maryland will raise the dropout age from 16 to 17 and will raise it again to 201 in 2017. Under these new laws, the two countries hope to emphasize the importance of K - 12 education and believe that letting young people go to school for a longer period will be useful for fighting the drop - out crisis. But a series of unexpected results challenge these new challenges and others think that states and school districts should invest in alternatives to deal with the era of dropout.

According to the survey, the reason for dropping out of school was because various risk factors were accumulated during enrollment, and high school once reached a climax. It is becoming increasingly obvious that dropping prevention has to start as soon as possible. Several researchers identified early predictors of pre-school attendance for children (Hammond, Linton, Smink & Drew, 2007). Early childhood is also the time when children are at the weakest position against environmental risk factors such as poverty, malnutrition, trauma / abuse, or maternal depression, etc. (National Center for the Poor Children, 1999). Quality Early Childhood Education students (ie, composed of comprehensive, cultivating, consistent and exciting courses) show low colonization rates, high academic achievement, low special education services, and high graduate student commitments (Stegelin, 2004). Early development of literacy is also essential for subsequent academic success.

American Psychological Association. (2012). I am facing a school dropout dilemma. Washington, DC: writer. From http://www.apa.org/pi/families/resources/school-dropout-prevention.aspx