Question: If your child started taking courses by the age of 13 and somehow finished college by 16, would you allow him/her to stop going to high school if they no longer wanted to go?
Answer: I try to stay out of parenting questions, but this is a great question, so I wanted to post my reply publicly. First things first: your student earned a college degree at 16?!?!? That’s a HUGE DEAL!!! I suspect that any parent who facilitates that process and any teen THAT motivated in school wouldn’t actually need my opinion on the matter, but since we’re talking hypothetically, I’ll share my hypothetical answer.
(1) What does your law say? Each state is different, and I can’t emphasize that enough. Some states have compulsory education laws that require your child to be in school until age 17 – or high school graduation so you’d need legal advice here. In addition, your state may have high school graduation requirements not met by completing a college degree. But, in some states, as few as 21 college credits equals a high school diploma. So, first things first, be a law-abiding citizen.
(2) Wanting to go. My kids don’t get to decide whether or not they want to go to school or where to school when they live in our home – hubby and I are in charge of the education of anyone living under our roof. You know where you get to make those decisions? At the kitchen table in your own home.
(3) Finish high school. I’m am of the opinion that fast-forwarding through college is awesome, bring that goal post as close as possible! But, I’m also of the opinion that fast-forwarding through k-12 is a mistake – so in our home, the answer would be “no” based on our parenting philosophy.
