Hi
I'm writing a story and I wish to know if you can be 18+ and still be in HS. Also, one of the characters is planning to run away, so can you graduate early, or leave school after turning 18? Is it mandatory to finish HS?
TIA
Hi
I'm writing a story and I wish to know if you can be 18+ and still be in HS. Also, one of the characters is planning to run away, so can you graduate early, or leave school after turning 18? Is it mandatory to finish HS?
TIA
Yes. Average is 18, but there are both 17 and 19 year old seniors (depending on when they started and if they held back or advanced a grade). There isn't a specific age requirement and some multi-impaired people are in special education until their early 20s. It is not mandatory to finish high school. Truancy can get you till you're 18 (unless you graduated), but you can drop out after that. If you get your GED you are considered graduated and don't have to go anymore. And yes, graduating early is an option. Some very smart people have done it in their early teens.
There isn't a specific age requirement and some multi-impaired people are in special education until their early 20s. It is not mandatory to finish high school.
I've looked into this for my state (Wisconsin) relative to questions around this topic that have come up on this issue. There is an age requirement for starting Kindergarten and that's it. Specifically you have to be age 5 by a fixed month/day of the year you start kindergarten.
Assuming no skipped grades or hold backs, that will fix the age at which you will graduate high school.
I would think other states would have the requirements set up similarly.
I more meant there wasn't a specific age you had to graduate by (since, as you said, not only start time but being held back/skipping grades can effect the age you are when you finish as well).
In Texas, at least, you do have to be age five during the year to start, but there has been a movement that some parents wait until age 6 to start, pushing everything back a year.
All of which means there is a possible 3 year age range for kids graduating (since neither 17 nor 19 are all that rare, even though the most common age is 18)
If it's public school, your in the right. If it's home schooling, there are multiple incidences out there of getting it done at 14-15. It's actually more the norm for home schooled to be done by 16 on average.
I more meant there wasn't a specific age you had to graduate by
Yes, but barring skipped grades or hold backs, it's pretty deterministic based on your age at the start of kindergarten.
Both hold backs and skipped grades are very rare. At least in my area for a child in public schools the school district will fight against both.
Both hold backs and skipped grades are very rare. At least in my area for a child in public schools the school district will fight against both.
They want to hold onto them as long as the dollars for them are coming in, but not so long that it affects their ratings.
For parents who believe their child will be an elite athlete holding back a child is common usually having them repeat the 8th grade. There are a variety of strategies to do this if the school doesn't cooperate. Moving districts-purposly having the child fail-switching from public school to private or home schooling-bribes.
here are a variety of strategies to do this if the school doesn't cooperate. Moving districts-purposly having the child fail-switching from public school to private or home schooling-bribes.
The last two are the only two that would work where I am from.
They are the best strategies but high schools have a common interest with the parents: they also want to keep good athletes as long as possible.
The cutoff date in the state where I started school was later than the cutoff date in the state where I spent most of my school career, and my birthday is between them, so I ended up younger than anyone else in my class by at least several days and in some cases more than a full year.
When I changed school systems in second grade, the new school wanted to drop me down a year, because the most important thing to them is keeping kids with their age group, but my parents wouldn't have it. At my old school, I'd been going over to the next class up for reading and math, and still being frustrated about how dumb the other kids (some of them, note, almost two years older than me) were.
I probably would have ended up skipping a grade if I'd stayed in the old school system; my older brother did, and I was more precocious than he was. The new school system was larger and had more (still inadequate) accommodation for "gifted" kids without just skipping them a grade, though.
Even without that, though, I graduated high school and started college at 17. My brother, who also has a late birthday, though not quite as late as mine, was, because of the skipped grade, still 16 for a few weeks after he started college. My sister has a summer birthday; she was 17 when she graduated high school, but had turned 18 before she started college.
The cutoff date in the state where I started school was later than the cutoff date in the state where I spent most of my school career, and my birthday is between them
The cutoff date in my state used to be well after the start of the school year. Late September, and my birthday is in mid September. I also tended to be one of the youngest in my classes.
However, at some point since they have moved the cutoff date to only a couple of weeks after the start of school, well before my birthday.
Yes. Average is 18, but there are both 17 and 19 year old seniors (depending on when they started and if they held back or advanced a grade).
Things are a lot stricter nowadays, but I started school when I was four, with my birthday in December. I actually had enough credits to graduate at the end of my junior year, but there was a state required course that you had to take as a senior because the teacher was a dick about it.
Since we lived two miles outside town, and I didn't want to walk home after only taking one class, I ended up my senior year taking three college level classes where I was the only student, along with the required social studies class. I turned 17 in December, graduated in May of '79.
Many years ago I researched this for a story and the USA is like Australia with kids starting in kindergarten at age 5 and Year 12 Seniors is the last year of high school with most being 18 when they graduate at the end of the year while some will be 17 and some 19 although some outliers are younger or older.
A lot depends on if they started at 5 or later and when their birthday is during the year. The actual age can also vary due to them moving between countries as someone who might be eligible to start in Australia in a particular year might not have been eligible in the USA due to when in the year their birthday is and the difference in the scholastic year, and the reverse is also true.
Also skipping grades / years, for fast advancement, being held back or kept back for some reason which could be exam failure or health issues, etc.
I graduated at 17. At the beginning of 3rd grade, I was told that if I did well that year, they were going to have me skip 4th grade. So, of course, I got sick in October and did not return to school until mid March.
Went to 4th grade and no more talk of skipping.
Some of the actors playing students in American teen high school movies are in their thirties ;-)
AJ
And some of the actors playing old farts are in their twenties. They can do wonders with theatrical makeup.
Under 18s and the casting couch leads to legal problems.
More important is that there are working hour and other requirements for employing minors. You can't do a 18 hour overnight shoot with kids.
Charisma Carpenter played Cordelia in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She was 27 when she started the role of a 16-year-old
Requirements for getting out of HS early with a GED vary by state, and are getting more and more restrictive as time goes by.
https://www.cga.ct.gov/2000/rpt/2000-R-0503.htm
Years ago a friend's mom said, one morning, "Get up, you're going to be late for school!".
Friend replies "I've already graduated", and shows her his GED certificate. I think he was 15 or 16. At the time, all you needed was a parent's signature or an employer's signature to take the tests.
Now, there are more restrictions, since the public schools want their money - in NY, for example, every student who applies butt to seat means an additional $22,000 per year for the school.
As is normal for anything run by the government, a large percentage of this money goes to "administration", while teachers often have to purchase supplies out of their own pockets in order to effectively teach their subject.
As is normal for anything run by the government, a large percentage of this money goes to "administration", while teachers often have to purchase supplies out of their own pockets in order to effectively teach their subject.
You know you are dealing with a government project when the number of administrators exceeds the number of people doing the actual work.
government
A compound word from govern, meaning being in charge and mint, where money is coined. Their object is to be in charge of getting money.
Now, there are more restrictions, since the public schools want their money - in NY, for example, every student who applies butt to seat means an additional $22,000 per year for the school.
New York is #1 in spending per studen at $24,040.
https://educationdata.org/public-education-spending-statistics#public-education-spending-statistics
New York is #1 in spending per studen at $24,040.
Yes, but how is that divided between:
Infrastructure (Buildings)
Equipment & Supplies
Teacher Salaries
Administrator Salaries
It wouldn't surprise me at all if Administrator Salaries ate the single biggest chunk of the per student spending.
It wouldn't surprise me at all if Administrator Salaries ate the single biggest chunk of the per student spending.
I could not find where the specifics that are listed, but I wouldn't be surprised if you're correct. I do know that's exactly how it is in TN.
Aged 18 works for high school seniors. A practical example:
In Hot Tub Love Machine: the cast are high school seniors. The story starts on the main character's 18th birthday. Therefore all of the characters in my story are 18. If you dig in the details and find out, say, one of the girl's birthdays is in May and the story takes place in October? That's just me being bad at math. Math is hard. All characters are 18 or older. The disclaimer wins out.
Math is hard.
It doesn't have an erection
Actually maths has lots of erections. Every mathematical theorem is an erection, for example. But I've never heard of maths having ejaculations so it must have very blue balls ;-)
AJ
Math is hard.
It doesn't have an erection, so it isn't hard.
At least until the author (nick)names one of the male characters "Math."
Being an Engineer which is heavy on maths, there are many erections.
Sadly, few people these days actually use the math anymore. I'm going to sit for a fresh P.E. exam next month. I'm really curious how it's changed to allow some of the dumbasses I've seen carrying a PE to pass the exam.
Completed the exam today. Compared to decades past, it was pathetically simple in regards to math. I'm of a mind to think a Junior High student from the 60's or earlier could pass that exam sans the college education(? ).
I dropped out at the end of 11th grade at 17 y.o. in order to join a Fed. program to get a GED.
I was held back for a year in Elementary/Grade school because I was temporarily deaf due to a severe head injury/concussion. Thus I was 19 when I graduated high school.
Just wanted to point out there are many reasons that someone can be older than 18 and in High School.
Voluntary holdbacks - particularly for boys - are becoming more common, leading to more 19-year-olds who never had an particular reason for a delay.
One main reason is related to skills development. 5-year-old boys, particularly younger ones (birthdates closer to the age cutoff for kindergarten), are often not that great at sitting in chairs patiently for hours, and are slower to develop fine motor skills compared to girls. Since both things are emphasized in kindergarten, 5-year-old boys are often held back a year so that they're less likely to be stamped with the 'attention deficit', 'troublemaker', or 'poor dexterity' etc labels.
The second major reason is sports. There's ample evidence that kids who are older within their grade are 'better' at sports. The reason is simply: an X-and-3/4-year-old is going to be better than an X-and-a-week-year-old at many sports during the grade school ages. Those nine (or however many) months make a significant difference. Parents who believe their kids may have potential in sports may hold them back to give their kid an advantage.
Two more reasons for 19+-aged kids: first, modern attendance rules are very, very tight. Miss more than five days in a semester, and you can lose credit for the entire semester, even if all your work is made up. Where I live, it requires an exemption granted by the principal to override the loss of credit - and principals get in trouble if they grant very many of those exemptions. Being ill is, in general, NOT an excuse - sick days still take one of those few days.
Second, high-stakes 'exit exams' can cause loss of credit. Sometimes these can be retaken. However, the eight-grade exam in particular is a roadblock. Fail that, and you can't go to high school, so you repeat eighth grade. There are other high-stakes exams that can lead to repeated grades.
If you're setting a story more than 20-30 years ago, those aren't factors, but teachers urging a child to be held back because they're 'hyperactive' (aka ADHD, or faux ADHD - gifted and therefore not paying attention due to boredom, or hyper-social kids, or ...), have poor 'conduct grades', etc becomes a bigger factor, as does the opposite - teachers urging children to skip a grade because they're gifted and bored.
Then there were kids like me who were made to skip a grade for being gifted and bored, then were made to repeat a grade so we were old enough to go to high school. Its how you teach Kafka to kids.
My highschool football captain graduated twice and would have gone for three if the school would have let him. He liked playing football.
My highschool football captain graduated twice and would have gone for three if the school would have let him. He liked playing football.
He wasn't good enough for college football?
Nope. He was good enough to dominate the public high school teams, especially as an adult playing against kids. He wasn't good enough for the local university, where the teams were made up of private school boys that had been professionally coached for four years at school.
The private school boys then went to university, where over the decades their old boys had been inserted into the sports staff so they selected the teams and ensured professional paid coaching at the highest level for football while rejecting funding for all other mens sports.
(On the women's side the lesbians had taken over and sent all funding to buying the all lesbian rowing team a waterfront restaurant as a club house. No straight girls neeed apply. They were all private school girls too, so even that minority sexual community had a class divide.)
Apart from that the football captain was a very smart dunce. Our school had produced more federal politicans, judges, mafia bosses & lobbyists than all of the private schools combined. So the network of connections were there for a better future, but he preferred to scrape by on the minimum effort required and play football. No scholarships in other words. I haven't heard of him in nearly half a century.
As a recipient of being held back in the early 90s due to 'attendance, and grades" I personally graduated HS back in 94 after 6 Years of HS at the age of 21. Was made to repeat my JR year 3 times.
The attendance issues for me where due to the teachers boring the ever living hell out of me first thing in the morning. I'd just say fuck it, leave, and walk the 4 miles home. With the attendance issue came the grade's issue, I didn't have the "required" number of semesters completed to suit the state BoE.
What helped me was getting transferred from a regular HS to the "Alterative HS". Class times for me went from 0735/1555, to 0930/1430, and had my "education plan" changed from the district timeline to "independent study" IE: my pace, not the schools.
I know in Georgia. in the eighties, once you hit 18, you could still graduate, but they strongly suggested you transfer to an alternative school. Something about legal adults being around underage students.
I could see that, but not at eighteen, unless Georgia did everything younger. In the average US state, you start Kindergarten at five. Simple math says that you thus start high school at seventeen. If the school year is nine months long, three-quarters of the senior class will be eighteen before the school year is over. You can't move all of those kids to an alternative school.
If Georgia started Kindergarten at four, it would 'work', but you'd be graduating a bunch of seventeen-year-olds (and some sixteen-year-olds), which would make them unusually young for college freshmen.
Can't say, having never looked in detail into the Georgia school system, but I could see them doing that at, say, nineteen, or being reluctant for a person to start their senior year at eighteen. However, that would also add a huge penalty to failing a grade or being held back (the likelihood that one would need to finish high school at an alternative school), which would increase pressure to socially promote kids and not hold them back.
If they had had rules about missing too many days back when I was in school, I'd now be the only second grade student getting a monthly social security check.
I was always either sick or sick of having to read "See Spot run. Run Spot run." at school, then going home and reading the Atlanta Journal - and seldom having to ask what a word meant.
The most beneficial education a kid could get back in those days came from reading Pogo, anyway.
Typically 18, with a significant minority at age 17.
Most states seem reluctant to "allow" students to either advance a grade, or be held back, almost no matter what. (Some school districts 33% or more of students/"graduates" are functionally illiterate!
However, in some high schools, students may take college classes (and get college credits), usually through a nearby Community College. Sometimes, universities; or even online.
10% or more students are "home schooled" although that often means co-ops, or other networks. Homeschooling must meet State Requirements.
Perhaps 30% of students who begin Public Education, NEVER Graduate...
(Although, some of those get a GED, possibly years later, or get an alternative education.)
Prison, many of them, have programs to get a GED, or even College Degrees.
For the Last 40 Years the USA Public Education has become a Disgrace, and is Plumeting in quality.
Many Suburban school districts are decent. Wealthy communities Typically have exclusive school districts.
Back to original topic, 18/17 is the government standard. Unless they Quit going to school.
For the Last 40 Years the USA Public Education has become a Disgrace, and is Plumeting in quality.
Some of them are so ignorant they don't know when to capitalize letters.
I suspect a cellphone and a tiring thumb played a part. That's why I'm a lot harder on typos in stories than I am on typos in forum posts.
AJ
Correct AJ
I have been using my phone, at least when I can get access to the net. It can be a hassle to constantly fight auto-complete / auto-incorrect.
I am eagerly anticipating getting back to being able to access SOL from a computer and not just a phone.
I have been using my phone,
Are you a phoney? "Is it phony or phoney?
The usual spelling in the US is "phony"; the usual spelling in the UK and in some countries influenced by it is "phoney."May 30, 2016"
Back in the early 2000s, I graduated with a 17 year old. It was no big deal. I also graduated with a 19 year old. Again no big deal. People get held back or get jumps in grades all the time.
You can drop out at any age. The system is supposed to force you back in if you're not yet 18, but it tends to ignore "unimportant people".
I essentially dropped out of my last year and a half. I'd been a top student before that and so I was given a graduation anyway and after a stint of being homeless, put my life back together with the military and university (my older stories were written during the university part of this).
I had friends who were 'disinvited' when they hit 18. If there was a full semester or more left before graduation they were kicked out, and had to complete high school in an adult school. Again. How people who are "not important" (not white, or in one friend's case - not able bodied) get treated differs from how the 'important people' get handled.
A lot of place will kick girls out if they get pregnant. Usually to put them in special schools for mothers that are drastically inferior... This becomes prime fuel for drop outs as these systems are designed to drum them out into the streets for 'moral reasons' while pretending to be social services.
At 18, you can just walk out the door and say bye.
Not having a high school diploma really harms your life potential. Even a GED (the adult school cert that is meant to be the same thing) is seen as inferior by employers.
Not having some college means you will be lower or working class.
Not graduating from that college means you will at best be lower middle class (the rare exception is if you are white, male, and drop out of a place like Stanford's engineering department - but that's also because of connections you make that then tell you to drop out and hand you a few million to go fool around).
Graduating from most colleges will lock your potential to middle class. Graduating from the right college and you have a ticket to the upper class. Moreso if you have connections from school and family though.