An Awesome Idea

It’s because of stories like this (thanks, Edspresso!) that I’m happy and optimistic. It’s about a public school in Houston that combats the dropout problem by offering students flexible school hours. Students can take courses in the evenings to make up for the time they’re out of school during the day. A Texas state representative explains why the regular school day just isn’t for everyone:

State Rep. Scott Hochberg, who proposed the bill, said he hopes it encourages districts to offer evening or weekend classes for students who must work to support their families and cannot attend school during the conventional 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. day.

"For anybody who has to work, that schedule just doesn’t work," the Houston Democrat said. "We were forcing kids to give up the possibility of completing their high school education and going on to any higher education."

I’m not familiar with any public schools that do this in Missouri, but at least one private school, Dayspring, offers homeschoolers opportunities to attend classes part-time. And many public GED courses in the St. Louis area are taught in the evening. If you can teach GED preparation in the evening, why not teach regular high school courses then, too? That could prevent students from dropping out, so they won’t need to take the GED.