Tammy links to this article about a girl who sued the New York State Education Department, and lost.
Her suit was on the grounds of age discrimination. Angela Lipsman dropped out of school in the eighth grade. She then began attending college, and by age 14 had earned an associates degree in communications. She can't be awarded the degree, however, because she has no high school diploma or GED equivalent.
She can't take the GED because the State of New York does not allow individuals under the age of 17 to do so.
Malone [the judge] noted that her family could have pursued several options, including a certified home-school program or an accelerated curriculum leading to an early graduation."They chose to chart their own educational course for Angela and now must deal with the annoying result of that decision," Malone wrote in his decision Monday. "Angela was not legally free to quote-unquote skip high school.
Okay. True, the family could have opted to keep her home and homeschool her for high school, thus allowing her to get her diploma earlier than age 17. She could have gotten it at a whopping age 16 instead, according to New York's compulsory education laws.
Apparently, the normal high school curriculum was a waste of time for this student. All right, so she could have studied advanced subjects at home for several years, biding time until she could be allowed her high school diploma ... but past a certain level, this is hard to do at home. And why should she have to?
This is the result of a school system whose main goal is to mark time for students. No one cares that this girl was capable of passing the GED at age 14. What mattered was that she "stay in school." The state doesn't give a hoot for her educational abilities and goals; they're ticked because she is following her own path which circumvents their hoops.
Education as an institution should exist to educate. If someone is up to the state standard of education (as presumably evidenced by passing the GED), then they should be allowed out of the system. Anything else shouts to the world that the school system is a babysitter first, educational institution second. If a student has no more need of high-school level work at age 14, what is the point of making her stay? If she is capable of college-level work, what is the point of not allowing her the credit her work is due?
I simply can't see a point to having a minimumm age set to take the GED. I cannot find any logic behind it. Texas has such a law as well. Can anyone explain this one to me? What am I missing here? Is the law meant to protect us from masses of 14 year olds figuring out that they don't need school any more?
According to this link, also via Tammy, when the issue first came up the local school board was urged to investigate Angela's father for educational neglect.
Yeah, there's a good one.
UPDATE: Tammy thinks that my use of the word "babysitter" is not really correct. I see your point, Tammy. It was pointed out to me earlier today, though, that the real reason may have to do with money rather than workforce issues. If the kids get out of school early, well, there goes that funding. In reality, I'm sure it's a combination of the two issues.
I don't think the minimum-age GED laws are good laws, though. There are high-schoolers who have better things to do, and I think they should have the opportunity. I do think the school system in this case is far more concerned with marking time than with the education of this student. And that just should not be the point. I think this is age discrimination; although I don't know if I'd say the judge is necessarily wrong in his ruling because I do not know what other options she may have had available to her.
Posted by Steph at July 16, 2003 10:02 AMI really do not understand this one. The NYC Board of Education was happy to get rid of me in 1973 when I was 11. I went to Brooklyn College, and earned my B.S. in 1977, whereupon I went to graduate school.
I could testify on her behalf if she needs the help. I never tried to get my GED; it would be pointless.
Respectfully,
Eric Jablow
Brooklyn College, 1977
Princeton University, *1983
I came here from Tammy's. :) Hello from a fellow Texan.
Posted by: Joanne, aka Happy Homeschooler on July 16, 2003 04:36 PMThis Complete Moron would like to know: why on EARTH don't her parents just purchase her a diploma from homeschooldiplomas.com (or whatever), issue her a diploma as a homeschooling family and then POOF she has one? If homeschooling is legal, then wouldn't a homeschooling diploma count? What am I missing? Is a diploma only a diploma if issued by a public or private high school?
If so, can't ber parents register to become a private high school and then GIVE HER a diploma? Isn't there an umbrella school somewhere that would let her "earn" a diploma? Why is this so hard? Isn't there any way to think outside the box on this one? She might be too old for the GED, but there HAS to be some way to earn a darned diploma!
~K
Posted by: Kolbi on July 16, 2003 09:18 PMKolbi, I do not understand that myself. If I understand NY law correctly, though, parents can't issue homeschool diplomas. It sounds to me like the student has to come through some kind of state-sanctioned program to get a diploma that way. She could have gone through an umbrella school. I am trying to figure out if an umbrella school could have just tested her and given her a diploma at age 14 or whatever the heck, or if the state would have said "no, we don't care, compulsory attendance law says through age 16."
Oh! I get it now! I'm such a dunce! That's why these minimum-age GED laws exist! To keep younger kids from getting out early, thus depriving the system of money! See how naiive I am?
Eric, that is very interesting. I wonder why they didn't mind about you going to college early, but this girl is having such a problem? Or for that matter, why is the college not waiving the GED requirement? If her grades are good in her classes, then who cares if she graduated high school?
Posted by: Stephanie on July 16, 2003 09:42 PMAh, yes, Stephanie, I hadn't thought of that--that public schools get funding for keeping those students warming the bench.
About Kolbi's question: I think that some colleges lose federal funding if they allow homeschoolers to earn degrees without requiring an "accredited" high school diploma from a homeschooler. American Schools and Univ. of Nebraska are a couple of the high school homeschooling programs that are accredited by the national accrediting bodies. I think that HSLDA has been working on it for a couple of years and that HONDA addresses this issue. See Daryl Cobranchi's blog to learn more about HONDA.
Nightie-night. :-)
Posted by: Tammy on July 16, 2003 11:51 PMGreat comments everyone. Stephanie, as far as I know, no college in the U.S. can "waive" the GED. They can however, "waive" the high school diploma requirement. My daughter entered college at age 13 (and just graduated with a B.S. at age 16) which was allowed because the state she went to school in allowed her to be admitted with the "equivalent" of a high school diploma. She earned her equivalent by taking CLEP exams (collegeboard.com) which have no age requirement. Those, however, do not give you a diploma, only college credit and proof you can do the work. Angela was allowed to take college courses and is STILL taking college courses (she is registered for next semester). The law says she cannot "graduate" from college with a degree without a high school diploma. She was trying to graduate with an Associates, but some idiot in the Dept. of Ed said she couldn't. I say def. age discrimination. Equal Work = Equal Rewards. If you can do the work, you should be allowed to prove it and move on. She has proven it with a 3.8 GPA. Who cares how old she is?
I think it's really horrible that they're filing a neglect suit against her dad. We need more parents like him. By denying Angela a superior education, I believe the New York Education department to be negligent (my opinion). What kind of educators are they? They are denying all of us the benefit that the best and the brightest have to offer society by requiring that she study age-level academics. Keep speaking out on this topic. I, for one, would rather have someone like Angela, Greg Smith, Michael Kearney, Jessica Meeker, Lauren Betancourt, Cassandra Stevenson, Alia Sabur, on my team, or performing surgery on my loved one, or making scientific decisions with regard to my future. They all graduated from college, or will graduate from college under the age of 16, cum laude, magna cum laude or summa cum laude. And, there are hundreds of kids in college now. Support Angela by telling everyone you know about this injustice! Thanks
Posted by: DLB on July 17, 2003 12:13 PMWhen Tammy skipped high school and enrolled in college, didn't the issue of her skipping high school come up? Doesn't the college have some sort of enrollment criteria besides the ability to pay the tuition? Can anyone off the street show-up, write a check, and just start taking classes?
Posted by: Bob Weinberg on July 21, 2003 10:17 AM