Debate Nirvana

High school has a huge benefit. High school is the bridge to college. Without high school, kids will fail to learn necessary material such as math, science, history, and writing. You're missing four years of school. Think how much education and how much intelligence you will gain from those four years. Sure, you may not have as much freedom, but school is not a consequence. There are many people all over the world who yearn to go to school, but can't because they need to help their families make money. They don't see school as a bad thing; they desperately want to go there. Now, my opponents may bring up the facts that some kids do need the money now. But what percent of the population does this case apply to? Our opponents couldn’t even give us a single piece of concrete statistics to support this contention, which is obviously false. High school, even for the few percent of poor kids who really need the money, high school is the outlet to poverty.

A high school diploma earns a person on average $8,400 more a year or more than $420,000 over a lifetime. But this is not just a problem affecting the individual dropout. It is a community-wide problem that affects everyone. A study by the Economics Center for Education and Research in Ohio found that high school graduates contribute more to a state's economy and require less state assistance than high school dropouts. High school dropouts commit about 75 percent of crimes in the United States and are much more likely to be on public assistance than those who complete high school. The cost to the public for these crime and welfare benefits is close to $200 billion annually. Because dropouts earn only about 60 percent of what high school graduates earn and only about 40 percent of the income of college degree holders – resulting in about $50 billon dollars in lost state and federal tax revenues each year. Dropouts are much more likely to have health problems than non-dropouts. A 1% increase in high school completion rate would save the United States $1.4 billion annually in health care costs.
 

High school is the first step to your career job. Due to all the subjects involved in this type of school, 16 year olds begin to see they enjoy a particular subject, for example math. That leads to college, where the young adult begins to try a degree in that very subject. And in the end, it produces a fine, intelligent young adult that can further technology in the world and then pass that knowledge onto future mathematicians. Or, if you invest more research, study hours, and time in economics, then you can become a major businessman who helps the economy. And what if you study government? You could very well be a mayor, senator, governor, congressman, or even possibly, the next President of the United States.

According to Professor Malhoney of Harvard, in a study he conducted of 5600 high school students, in their freshman year over 98% of students gave different career choices than after they had graduated from high school. Clearly, high school helps kids select their jobs and thus their future.

The views of children do matter, but in many cases society is right to leave the decisions to others. Parents and teachers have a lot of experience of life after school, and they are far better placed to make decisions about the future. Many children simply can’t understand all of the consequences of their actions. This is exactly why we don’t punish them as severely as adults when they make mistakes. Children also change their minds and may make decisions they regret later. Why are there parents? Why don’t we just leave our kids on the streets to fend for themselves? It’s because parents are called parents for a reason. They make good decisions for their children on their behalf so that they don’t regret them later. I’m sure everyone here has had an embarrassing moment. However, it’s probably not the same on your parents had or the generation before that. Why? Because things get fixed. Parents, who have lived through life and have decades more experience than their children, impart their knowledge of life onto their kids to improve their kid’s lives. Parents look out for their children, and sometimes, the best things for children are the things they aren’t thrilled to do, which is high school. As we’ve proved, the benefits of going to high school are infinitely better than the negatives not going to high school does.

Schools don’t just teach ‘information’, but try to give students a basic understanding of the world around them. How can students decide what subjects interest them if they don’t understand them? And even if students can find jobs when they are older, it is still important that they understand basic ideas about how society works, about their history or about basic science. Schooling creates well-rounded young people who understand their place in the society and the world. This won’t happen if students only learn what they need to get by.