| Lesson from Utah: 12th graders are slackers | |
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By Editorial Board St. Louis Post-Dispatch | |
Blessed as we are to have two state legislatures to entertain us, we often don’t often appreciate the rich menu of weirdness that permeates legislatures in the 48 other states. Utah, for example. There, a state senator has proposed making senior year in high school optional. State Sen. Chris Buttars, a Republican from the Salt Lake City suburbs, at first proposed eliminating the senior year altogether. Reason: It would save the state $102 million, and a lot of kids spend their last year in high school just goofing off, anyway. "You’re spending a whole lot of money for a whole bunch of kids who aren’t getting anything out of that grade," Mr. Buttars told an appropriations subcommittee hearing earlier this month. "It comes down to the best use of money." Gone would be such institutions as the senior prom, senior cut day, senior project and senior advanced placement courses for those grinds who take education seriously, not to mention a full year of eligibility for football, basketball and other sports teams. Thousands of 17-year-olds would be turned loose on a job market that already is full of unemployed 18- and 19-year-olds. Kids would learn early that they have to pick themselves up by their bootstraps. Mr. Buttars’ proposal doesn’t seem to have much support from his fellow lawmakers, who often treat him as if he were radioactive. But he is not a man who cares what other people think. His previous legislative initiatives have included preventing retailers from instructing their employees not to wish shoppers "Merry Christmas." He became the unintended star of a documentary film — shown at this year’s Sundance Film Festival — for such anti-gay comments as, "Homosexuality will always be a sexual perversion. And you say that around here now and everybody goes nuts. But I don’t care," and "It’s just like the Muslims. Muslims are good people and their religion is anti-war. But it’s been taken over by the radical side." Lately, HBO’s nighttime soap opera "Big Love" — about the turmoils of a nice, normal Utah guy with three, or maybe four, wives — has been featuring a subplot in which the guy wins the Republican nomination for a state Senate seat. His plan: To get elected and then crusade for open polygamy. We thought that was a little over the top. Now we’re not so sure. | |
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stltoday.com Originally published February 15, 2010 | |
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