Republicans Need to Back Call for Mandatory High-School Attendance to Age 18 (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | Sometimes Republicans just don't know when to shut up. One such member is Utah Sen. Mike Lee who wants Republicans to block President Barack Obama's call for mandatory school for all students until age 18.

Lee said Obama's call for longer mandatory attendance before a student could drop out was "none of his business," according to The Ticket. Lee said the federal government should not play a part in education because that is the within purview of state and local governments.

He's right -- and he's wrong.

Determining education standards is certainly the right and responsibility of state and local governments, but let's be serious here: The Obama proposal is a good idea. Our young people need as much education to compete in today's modern world as is possible. Drop-outs will have a hard time finding meaningful work, especially in a recessed economy. The least we should expect is that students complete high school.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 8.1 percent of students nationwide dropped out of high school in 2009. That number is too high. If we are going to compete in a global market, we've got to make sure all students receive a minimum level of education and expecting them to complete high school is not asking too much. Maybe -- just maybe -- it will cut down on welfare support programs for the underpaid and unemployed.

But the focus needs to continue beyond high school. Employers and local communities need to give more support to community colleges and vocational schools where the trades are taught. That support can be in the form of joint private-public ventures as Obama described in his State of the Union Address, as well as incentives to hire freshly-trained vocational school graduates.

Wherever the approach, there needs to be a greater focus on education. Republicans cannot possibly believe that by turning their noses away from the problem that it will go away. They need not cede state control of education to support a plan like Obama suggests. Mandatory high school attendance until age 18 is not a bad idea.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120126/pl_ac/10886731_republicans_need_to_back_call_for_mandatory_highschool_attendance_to_age18

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