Love: Pay for high school projects

Submitted by ryanteaguebeckwith on December 5, 2008 - 9:16am.
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A state legislators says the state should pay to oversee high schoolers' senior projects.

Rep. Jimmy Love, a Sanford Democrat, called the new graduation requirement an unfunded mandate, saying he is considering a proposed law to allow school districts to drop it unless the state pays for it.

The State Board of Education is requiring all high school students starting with the class of 2010 to complete an ambitious project: Write a paper, create a product and present their work to a panel of judges. Students must find mentors too.

"The graduation project is OK as long as you provide the money," said Love, who serves as the school board attorney in Lee County. "I'm looking to put the thing off until the legislature funds it or somebody funds it."

It is not clear how much the graduation project costs. Local school districts do not have uniform rules and the state Department of Public Instruction has not estimated the cost. (N&O) 

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Re: Love: Pay for high school projects

Submitted by ncpoli on December 5, 2008 - 11:15am.

This is nonsense. Char-Meck has been requiring this for years and no one ever complained. So kids will actually have to prove they're capable of coherent thought to graduate... get over it.

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Re: Love: Pay for high school projects

Submitted by tiggermom on December 5, 2008 - 10:13am.

Personally, I think the whole idea of senior projects is totally ridiculous. What is the point? It sounds like a lot of work for the students and parents. Let's face it. The parents will have to get involved. I have two grown children. They have finished high school, but I do remember the days of projects. No matter what the teachers say, parents get involved in projects. My question is, "Will this project determine if they graduate?" That is so unfair, if that is the case. If a student keeps his or her grades up, why should they do a project? Projects are just a easy way for teachers to teach. I can't tell you how useless some of the projects were my children had to do b/c a teacher didn't want to teach. As for who pays for it, I agree with Mr. Love. The state should pick up the tab for the projects if they are going to require them. Some of these projects can get expensive. Why not make the project optional for kids who have good grades? Let the ones with the poor grades do the project. My son finished high school with a 4.03 GPA. I would have been very disappointed if he had to do a project to graduate. It is bad enough they have to take mandated end of the year tests to graduate. Why put more stress on the students and parents? My guess is that it will help those who don't test well. I hope I am wrong in my assumption, but it will give them a fighting chance. School boards will do whatever it takes to make sure kids with disabilities graduate. Projects are just another lame way of doing that. I personally would like to see all projects done away with. When you hit college, you have very few projects. Students need to know how to take tests. How about doing a project on how to teach all students to take tests?

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