Staying in school is best policy

To the editor:

Should high school students be given the choice of early graduation? Are these students, at age 17, ready for the rigors of college life? Do these students have the right to walk with the rest of their classmates? No, no and no.

High school faculty, staff, parents and classmates should not allow or encourage early graduation, because these students miss an opportunity to learn and spend that one last semester with those classmates and inspirational teachers who have already taught them so much.

There are opportunities to excel at Kelly High School. I was in the Class of 2002. Many classes are highly applicable to college life and are not pointless.

Why should early graduates be prevented from walking at graduation? These young people are setting a bad example for future students. It will start a slippery slope. Each year more students will be seeking an early exit from high school. Students will start taking the easy, early exit more frequently if the early-graduation policy changes.

There is no good that can come out of early graduation. Students lose an opportunity to learn and grow as scholars. I suggest that the Kelly administration never falter from its position on early graduation, that students encourage other students to remain with them for one last hurrah and, finally, that parents love their children enough to make them finish high school the correct way: in eight semesters.

ASH HAHN, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.