Chicago Mayor Wants A Huge Extra Requirement For A High School Diploma

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants to make sure Chicago students are ready to move on from high school with a controversial plan.

CBSChicago - Under a new plan to prepare them for life after high school, Chicago Public School students would have to show an acceptance letter to a university, community college, apprenticeship, trade school, internship, or the armed services.

This new proposal would begin with next year's crop of incoming freshman.

We already have around 62 percent of out kids already either accepted into college or accepted into community college, and our goal is to make sure nobody spikes the ball at 12th grade. We want to make 14th grade universal. That's the new goal line.

-Rahm Emanuel

This is a great idea but one that really can't be applied to real life. The idea that secondary education is for everyone is something that has faded in the last decade. The glut of worthless college degrees has flooded the job market and made coffee baristas out of countless college graduates.

What about kids who want to travel abroad after high school? The concept of a "gap year" has been gaining traction in this country and would seem to negate this proposal.

In the end I really don't see this passing. The sentiment is great but the actual application just won't work.

Do you think this kind of thing would work? Do you want to see it in Rockford?