Grandpa's Lessons

My gender identity had yet to coalesce

My Grandpa Lambert could rig up just about anything. He could shinny up a flag pole, sing along with his own piano accompaniment, strip an electric motor, and build just about anything, however inelegant. Most of his constructions, as he was wont to point out, "Weren't pretty, but hell for stout."

The man kept good company, drank congenially, and smoked himself to death. He had a 6th grade education but also knew what it meant to be educated. Educated people, my grandpa knew, didn't toil in coal mines or lumber yards like he did. They didn't work on printing press floors only to be unceremoniously dumped when bankruptcy killed a company and managers fled with the cash drawers.

He didn't "take no truck" with the educationally lazy. He and my father got along famously, the more so because my father brought education to the family in the form of an BSEE.

In the early 20th century in poor and rural Ohio, a 6th grade education was considered enough and few had any opportunities to go beyond it. By the age of 11 or 12, a young man was strong enough to begin work. And work meant physical labor. As my grandfather grew in experience, he began to understand what education could bring, but realized his opportunity had passed.

In my day-to-day contact with high school students, I find many of them do not really comprehend what it is like to work without a formal education.

Sure, there are examples of ambitious and motivated individuals who have done just fine without formal degrees. Steve Jobs jumps to mind. And there are plenty of examples of those with formal degrees who are back in their childhood bedrooms, wondering where all the promised cash went. Still, in the aggregate, more education means more opportunities and less chance of unemployment.

I have found, however, that older college students have an urgent understanding of this principle. They are investing heavily in collecting diplomas. They work, raise kids and cram in classes when they can. It seems real-world experience heightens one's perception of the value of formal education.

So here is my fantasy:

Allow students at the end of the 8th grade (two more years than Grandpa had) to choose between moving on to high school or moving straight into the work force for a minimum of two years. Adjust child-labor laws accordingly. Those who wanted to go to high school would proceed normally.

Those who chose to leave school would have some percentage of their after-tax income deducted from their paychecks and  automatically deposited in their parents' accounts to go for food and lodging. Junior high school counseling staffs would be bolstered and linkages developed between schools and local businesses. Now, 8th grade graduates who opted out of high school would not be required to find work; they could chill at home with their parents. This would go over well with their parents, I am sure.

At the end of two years, those 8th grade graduates would again be offered the opportunity to go to high school. How many would choose to re-enroll? Would their experience either of working for a paycheck or working at home and being constantly nagged provide the adequate incentive?

I realize I am riding on a unicorn over a rainbow here, because the probable outcome would be even fewer high school graduates with less opportunity and more instances of anti-social behavior. Most kids are not going to be like my grandpa. Kids would stay out of school, because the momentum would be gone and as they grew older, a certain fatalism would creep in.

Still, think of what it would be like to teach high school. It would be like teaching college.