When Will We Learn

High schools are complaining that students are disinterested, being absent for long periods, distracted while in class, behaving obnoxiously and rude. In short, they are obviously, other than the minority, disgruntled. We spoiled them long ago into thinking that it's all about being entertained. Here's an idea. Make school a paying job. When a kid is sixteen, send it to work. At school. Paid work. They do it on scene, not at home online, where it's too easy to get the smart kid to do it for one. (Yes, that happens a lot.)  You work in person, in a class that teaches how to write a resume, how to get up and speak to an audience, how to fix a vehicle, how to build something,  how to survive in a crisis,  what marriage commitment is all about, and the vast difference between love and sex. Just some of what really matters when it's time to graduate and enter the real world.  But they must do it on scene, not away. It's a job. They get breaks and have unions and rules. And they can be docked pay if they don't perform. I imagine if I walked into a high school, I would see a curriculum very much like the one I had to go through where I took almost nothing away to do  my professional career and the degree to get it. That, I learned at university or for others to their choices, their callings, at practical centres that served their needs. We need students to tell us seriously what their high schools should be for them. We need to listen to them and they need to help themselves. Our teens need what is useful now and what will be needed in future such as getting along in society, managing money and their own personal growth in a difficult world. Trig, physics, Shakespeare (bless his work), and ancient history don't hack it until later on in life when experience tells one it's time. Big leap. Let's fix high schools.