Chicago is touting a first-of-its-kind requirement for high school students — and it’s raising plenty of eyebrows.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a proposal last week to withhold high school diplomas from students without concrete post-graduation plans. The plan has been called “cruel and appalling,” “absurd,” and a “half-baked” attempt to “micro-manage.”
This attempt would demand students to prove, with acceptance letters, that they are set up for one of six post-high school plans: college, military enlistment, a job program (like coding camp), a trade pre-apprenticeship or apprenticeship, a gap-year program, or a job. The mayor’s office says the “groundbreaking” requirement will help students succeed past high school. But for now, the proposal faces the charge that it may not stand on firm legal grounds—and that it pressures students without supporting them. Pacific Standard spoke with Miranda Johnson, associate director of the Education Law and Policy Institute at Loyola University, about whether the plan will make it — and what components it needs to help the students it’s targeting.
[For more of this story, written by Elena Gooray, go to https://psmag.com/chicago-has-...-school-2590e51ceff9]
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