The provincial government of Ontario has passed a law whereby a teenager loses his license if he drops out of school. Pretty clever. Dropping out would probably only be about 1/3 as appealing if you couldn’t drive. There are very narrow provisions in the law — not many kids would really lose their licenses, and they’d get them back when they turned 18 anyway — but I have a feeling this kind of negative incentive might be more effective than the positive but mushy incentives that some schools try to keep their kids in school, like this one:
Oregon schools offer free cars to entice kids to class
Monday, September 18, 2006
Associated Press – Idaho News
PHOENIX, Ore. — Phoenix High School students have a powerful new incentive to attend class — the chance to win a car.
Students who show up 95 percent of the time while maintaining a B average will be eligible to win a used car donated by Lithia Motors. “It’s a fun opportunity to highlight that we value attendance,” Principal Jani Hale said.
More and more schools across Oregon and the nation are using incentives ranging from cash to cars to encourage pupils to go to class. The schools need solid attendance figures to comply with the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
The carrot doesn’t always work, however. The attendance rate at Crater High School in Central Point dropped last year when school officials held a drawing for a car. Though the reward didn’t have the desired effect, the school is offering two cars this school year.
“I don’t think the car giveaway had a substantial impact on attendance as a whole,” said Walt Davenport, Crater High dean of students. “The goal was more about recognizing students who are doing the right thing because we spend a lot of time on interventions on students who aren’t doing the right thing.”
It’s also been argued, in a paper by Thomas Dee and Brian Jacob, that high schools requiring students to taken an exit exam can actually exacerbate the dropout problem, particularly among low-income students.
(Hat tip: Dan Dickinson)
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According to this Time article (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1181646-1,00.html)
Ontario isn’t the only place that has this law Indiana, Kentucky, Georgia and West Virginia are suppose to have similar laws as well. (See page 6, paragraphs 1 & 2.)
According to this Time article (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1181646-1,00.html)
Ontario isn’t the only place that has this law Indiana, Kentucky, Georgia and West Virginia are suppose to have similar laws as well. (See page 6, paragraphs 1 & 2.)
I don’t see a problem with high school exit exams exacerbating the dropout problem since the kids that drop out for this reason really shouldn’t hold a high-school diploma in the first place.
I don’t see a problem with high school exit exams exacerbating the dropout problem since the kids that drop out for this reason really shouldn’t hold a high-school diploma in the first place.
There’s a Freakonomic problem with driver’s license restrictions, though: Most states allow some form of homeschooling, often requiring little or not documentation as proof.
When Kentucky passed its dropout/license law, the result was a boom in the number of people calling themselves homeschooled. There’s even a name for them in the homeschooling world: “homefoolers.”
The result of all this is that, when driver’s license proposals like these have been made, homeschoolers usually unite to oppose them because they believe homefoolers dilute the legitimacy of “real” homeschoolers. That’s what happened here in Texas, for instance, where state law gives school systems no right to confirm a homeschooler is actually being taught anything.
There’s a Freakonomic problem with driver’s license restrictions, though: Most states allow some form of homeschooling, often requiring little or not documentation as proof.
When Kentucky passed its dropout/license law, the result was a boom in the number of people calling themselves homeschooled. There’s even a name for them in the homeschooling world: “homefoolers.”
The result of all this is that, when driver’s license proposals like these have been made, homeschoolers usually unite to oppose them because they believe homefoolers dilute the legitimacy of “real” homeschoolers. That’s what happened here in Texas, for instance, where state law gives school systems no right to confirm a homeschooler is actually being taught anything.
Crater High? Change the name.
Assuming 100 students and a $10,000 car, an awful lot of work is required to get a raffle ticket with a theoretical value of $100.
Crater High? Change the name.
Assuming 100 students and a $10,000 car, an awful lot of work is required to get a raffle ticket with a theoretical value of $100.