Anybody who has gone to a supermarket or any venue where customer service is required, will notice the lack of available help. Hence people have to wait in interminable lines, or use computerized automated checkouts—which I find difficult to use, and I know web coding. Automated checkouts are inherently user-unfriendly. According to industry experts, “A whopping 92% of hiring small businesses can’t find the labor they need[.]”

Many reasons are given. Kids are too lazy or unskilled. Nobody wants to work when government handouts pay more. Etc.

Well, there is another reason, so obvious that it is staring everyone right in the face, and the cure would not only solve the immediate problem, but also flush out a lot of detritus from our society.

Adopt early graduation (or equivalency) policies in every state. Right now, there are numerous obstacles to this path, notably, in New York:

In New York, you must be at least 19 years of age to take a GED test.

If you are 16, 17, or 18 you must get approval to test. You will need to complete an Age Eligibility form which is located within the application when you create your online GED account. The Age Eligibility form must also be signed by the institutional official authorized to attest to the information required and the completed form mailed to the NYSED HSE Office. The chart below provides details on the requirements and which institutions are authorized to sign the form. The approval process may take up to one week, after the form is received. Please allow two full weeks for the mail to reach NYSED HSE Office. Once approved, you will be able to schedule your GED test.

New York state has additional requirements if you are just 16 or 17. For example, you must be a dropout for a year, or in the armed forces, or in college.

Why can’t a kid just say,“I am sixteen, I’ve had enough. I want to get out of this idiocy. Let me take the GED.”

New Jersey has similar restrictions:

You can’t be enrolled in a high school program or hold a diploma. You can take the exam if you’re 18 or older, but you may qualify at 16 or 17. Those in the latter category need a completed Certificate of Consent to Participate form, and a parent or guardian must accompany them to the testing center.

Alright, I agree that parents should give consent for minors, but the rest of the requirements are nonsense. If you are enrolled in a high school program, why can’t you be allowed to take the GED and quit whenever you want?

California’s requirements are even worse:

You must be at least 18 years old. If you are 17 and meet additional requirements, you are eligible to take the test.

I am not suggesting just loosing pre-pubescent or adolescent kids on the job market. This is not the year 1910.

But as someone who detested high school for its boring idiocy—and I was a member of Mensa later on—I started to hate education. Warehousing certain kids in high school actually creates a hatred of learning.

Those kids who are up to it should be allowed to test out.

They can get a job, earn some money, and go back to college when they are 18 or 19, not jaded and brainwashed by the system.

Of course the schools will then be concentrated with the clueless and uneducable. The teaching staff can concentrate on those who need help, rather than dragging down those who don’t.

What we have now is a system just to warehouse kids and brainwash them. Attendance requirements are made just to provide employment for social workers.

Advanced and enterprising kids can get out before 18.

They can then work for 2-3 years before going to college, if they even want to, at that point. Moreover, many of them will be the type of worker who will be easy to train, which is just what employers want.

Image: Free image, Pixabay license, no attribution required.