In Favor of Compulsory Attendance Laws
Julianne Ossman
University of Colorado at Denver
Introduction:
Compulsory education laws are put in place in order to hold students accountable for attending school to a certain age. “They specify a minimum and a maximum age between which school attendance is required; a minimum period of attendance; penalties for non-compliance; and the conditions under which individuals could be exempted from attending school, such as the completion of a given grade, mental or physical disability, distance from school and so on.”(Lleras-Muney, 2002) The United States’ current compulsory school attendance laws can send students, parents and teachers mixed messages about the importance of graduating from high school. About half of states in the United States have compulsory attendance laws until the age of 16, eight states have compulsory education laws until the age of 17 and 16 states have compulsory education laws until the age of 18. These compulsory school attendance laws are outdated. These laws were enacted between the years of 1870-1910 when things were much different in the United States (Bridgeland, Dilulio, & Streeter, 2007). At the time, a high school education was not necessarily required to enter the work force. Our society had many jobs that didn’t require a high school diploma. “Fifty-two percent more Americans lived in rural than in urban areas in 1900.” (Bridgeland et al., 2007) Times have obviously changed. Even most farmers go on to get some college education now. What messages are these outdated laws telling our students? If education is so important, why do we allow them to drop out at age 16? Many studies have shown that people who drop out of high school are more likely to have less income, be unemployed, have poor health and suffer from depression (Oreopoulos, 2007). Dropping out of high school also has shown an increase in teenage births (Black, Devereux, & Salvanes, 2008) as well as an increase in crime and jail time. Eighty percent of our prison inmates are dropouts (Bridgeland et al., 2007). Also many of these dropouts are on government-funded programs like Medicaid and welfare. Dropouts can cost the United States a great deal of money. More money should be put into decreasing the dropout rate. Alternative schooling programs or additional support for struggling students would have to be put into place if the students were required by law to stay in school. It may cost more initially, but would likely save money in the future. With all of the negative effects of dropping out of school, it is time that we reexamine our compulsory attendance laws. If the graduation age is 18, then that should also be the age of compulsory school attendance. This paper will address four topics concerning compulsory education; economics, health and happiness, reasons for dropping out and what needs to be done.
Economics and Compulsory Education
It is estimated that the effects of staying in school for just one additional year can increase an individual’s income by about ten percent (Oreopoulos, 2007). People that drop out of school make significantly less money than someone who graduated. Unfortunately, the populations of students that are most likely to drop out of high school already come from low-income families. The dropout rate is “disproportionately high among blacks, Hispanics, and children from low-income families”(Oreopoulos, 2007). If something isn’t done to address this issue, the gap between the rich and the poor is never going to decrease. Dropping out of high school is making it very difficult for these students to rise above their current situation. According to data interpretation by Oreopoulos, states that have increased the compulsory attendance age have seen a decrease in dropout rates and an increase in post-secondary education attendance. This has impacted the disadvantaged youth population. Students that are thinking about dropping out are more likely to stay in school and go to college when the compulsory attendance laws are set at age 18 instead of 16 (Oreopoulos, 2007).
Increasing the compulsory attendance age would not only benefit the average income of individuals, it would also affect the amount of money that is spent on things like prisons, welfare, Medicaid and remediation programs. The student is not the only person who is affected by dropping out. “Society also suffers from the loss of productivity and the higher costs of increased incarceration, health care and social services” (Bridgeland et al., 2007). It is clear that dropouts cost our society a great deal of money. We also must take their lower earnings and unemployment into account. It is estimated that 23 million high school dropouts, ages 18 to 67 in Colorado, cause a loss of $50 billion annually in federal and state income taxes (Rainey, 2008). A projection concluded that if the Colorado dropout rate continues in this manner, “the Colorado work force of 2020 will be less educated than today’s workforce. As a result, the state’s per-capita income won’t just stagnate- it will decline”(Rainey, 2008). If graduation rates in Colorado increased so the rate of minority students graduated at the same rate as white students, then close to $5.2 billion would be added to Colorado’s economy (Rainey, 2008). It is obvious that something has to be done.
Health and Happiness
There is a positive correlation between how many years someone attends school and their health throughout life. Lleras-Muney suggests that there could be several reasons for this that fall into two categories: direct and indirect effects. One of the direct effects is that education can provide people with critical thinking skills that help them determine what they must do to be healthy (Lleras-Muney, 2002). Evidence has shown that the “more educated are more likely to comply with treatments for diabetes and Aids”(Lleras-Muney, 2002). Also, the more educated are more able to mange a chronic disease or disorder (Lleras-Muney, 2002). More educated people are more likely to be well informed about illnesses and seek out information as well as treatment. Success rates of contraception methods differ according to levels of education. For “easy” methods such as the pill, success rates are identical, but the rhythm method is only effective if the woman is educated (Lleras-Muney, 2002).
An indirect reason that more education leads to better health is that being in the classroom is safer than working (Lleras-Muney, 2002). Education can give individuals access to jobs that have less of an affect on one’s health. White-collar jobs provide “healthier work environments than manufacturing or agriculture” (Lleras-Muney, 2002). Another indirect reason that should be noted is that a “lack of education is correlated with stress, depression and hostility, all of which have been shown to adversely affect health” (Lleras-Muney, 2002). People with more compulsory schooling are more likely to be satisfied overall with their life (Oreopoulos, 2006).
According to research by Oreopoulos, just a one-year increase in schooling can improve peoples’ health. In a questionnaire asking people to rate their health as good, fair or poor, a one-year increase in schooling lowered the probability of choosing poor health by 3.2% and increased the chances of reporting good health by 6.0% (Oreopoulos, 2006). One year of compulsory education also resulted in increasing the chances of a person being overall satisfied with life by 5.2% and very satisfied by 2.4% (Oreopoulos, 2006).
There has also been a correlation with compulsory education laws and teenage pregnancy rates. Being a teenage mother can have negative economic and health effects on both the mother and the child. Many teenage mothers have lower educations, lower wages, higher unemployment and welfare dependence. Babies born to teenage moms tend to have lower birth weights, have higher rates of infant mortality and these children are more likely to engage in crime (Black et al., 2008). Women that stay in school due to compulsory education laws are less likely to become a young mother. Black and colleagues call this the ‘incarceration effect’, which means “while women are in school they do not have the desire/time/opportunity to have a child”(Black et al., 2008). Increasing female education is an effective way to reduce rates of teenage births (Black et al., 2008).
Reasons for dropping out
Why do kids decide to drop out of school? It is important to address these reasons if compulsory education laws are going to be effective. According to Oreopoulos, “individual students make optimal decisions in weighing the costs of school attendance against the expected gains” (Oreopoulos, 2006). Some students that come from poor families might think that working will be more beneficial than school. Instead of worrying about the long-term, they choose to focus on the present. Earning money at a low paying job immediately seems more important than planning for their future (Oreopoulos, 2006).
In a survey done by Bridgeland and colleagues, people surveyed listed the following reasons for dropping out of school. “Classes were not interesting, missed too many days and could not catch up, spent time with people who were not interested in school, had too much freedom and not enough rules in my life and was failing in school” (Bridgeland et al., 2007). It is also important to note that nearly all of the dropouts reported regretting their decision.
When students decide are deciding whether or not to drop out of school, they have to weigh the rewards to the effort put into school. “Many social scientists view education as an investment decision. For high school students, an investment decision would involve weighing the expected rewards from obtaining a degree to the effort required in getting it. Those that dropout drop out because they detest school, lack motivation, or anticipate little reward from graduation. In this case, in the absence of positive externalities, compulsory schooling restricts choice and lowers lifetime welfare” (Oreopoulos 2007).
What should be done?
Some argue that changing compulsory education laws will make little difference in dropout rates. If a student wants to drop out, they believe they will do so – law or no law. However, research indicates that “approximately one-quarter of potential dropouts remain in school because of compulsory school laws. In addition, overall enrollment rates among 16 year olds are lower in states that allow them to drop out when they turn 16.5” (Bridgeland et al., 2007).
Of course it is not enough to simply raise the compulsory education age. There also have to be stricter laws put in place for students that decide not to come to school, schools need to be held accountable and more supports need to be in place for struggling students. Indiana is one state that changed the compulsory education age from 16 to 18 in 2006. Not only did they change the age, they added many other supports for students that exhibit dropout-like behavior. First of all, all report cards must show suspensions, absences and whether the student is earning enough credits to move to the next grade level (Bridgeland et al., 2007). There must also be counseling for students so they can take advantage of credit recovery options before it is too late. Indiana also provides alternate education for 11th and 12th graders who are not succeeding at a traditional school setting. These students are allowed to work if they maintain a 95 percent attendance rate and they must attend classes for at least three hours a day (Bridgeland et al., 2007). This allows students who have no choice but to work to also be able to graduate from high school.
More money needs to be put into our public schools. Decreasing the size of class sizes is one way to catch at risk students before it is too late. We also need to have more guidance counselors to help our students make better decisions. Programs should be put in place where kids can get their diploma and an associates degree at the same time and we should catch at risk students early and offer them specific trade training as an alternative to dropping out.
Creating laws is the first step. The laws also need to be enforced. Currently, compulsory education laws are frequently broken. Many times, administrators won’t pursue a dropout case because the student was disruptive in class and the school would rather be rid of the student (Oreopoulus, 2007). States lack the funds necessary to track students that are not attending school so many times the offense goes unpunished. Attendance officers have too large of caseloads and it is often difficult to contact students’ families. More money needs to be put into ensuring that our students are attending school and getting the support they need. An investment in education now will lead to reduced costs of things like prisons, welfare and Medicaid in the future.
Conclusion
Given all of the benefits, it is clear that laws need to be put in place to ensure that all students attend school. People who stay in school tend to make more money, be healthier and be happier. People who drop out of school tend to make less money, have poor health, cost the state a great deal of money and they usually regret their decision. Having a compulsory age of 16 sends the wrong message to students. If 18 is the age that people graduate, this should also be the compulsory education age. Why would we have a law that tells students that it is okay to drop out before graduation? Increasing the compulsory attendance age in some states has shown to increase the amount of students that graduate. Given the current state of graduation rates, it is imperative that we put new laws in place. We must also put more money into our educational system to support at risk teenagers; the benefits will far outweigh the costs.
Sources
Black, S.E., Devereux, P.J., & Salvanes, K.G. (2008). Staying in the classroom and out of the maternity ward? The effect of compulsory schooling laws on teenage births. The Economic Journal, 118, 1025-1054.
Bridgeland, J.M., Dilulio, J.J, & Streeter, R. (2007). Raising the compulsory school attendance age: The case for reform. Washington, DC: Civic Enterprises, LLC.
Lleras-Muney, A. (2002). The relationship between education and adult mortality in the United States. Milwaukee, WI: Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.
Oreopoulos, P. (2007). Do dropouts drop out too soon? Wealth, health and happiness from compulsory schooling. Journal of Public Economics, 91, 2213-2229.
Oreopoulos, P. (2007). Would more compulsory schooling help disadvantaged youth? Evidence from recent changes to school-leaving laws. University of Toronto National Bureau of Economic Research.
Oreopoulos, P. (2006). The compelling effects of compulsory schooling: Evidence from Canada. Canadian Journal of Economics, 39(1), 22-52.
Rainey, Norton (2008). The cost of dropping out- Can we afford it? The Denver Business Journal May 9-15, 2008
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