Less high school - a good idea? - House Speaker Newt Gingrich proposes giving scholarships to students who complete high school in three years

Current Events, March 20, 1995

"We're maintaining high schools where students . . . pursue their social life," says House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R--GA.). "We're subsidizing [paying for] dating. This is crazy."

Gingrich thinks that most teens could, by working harder, complete all their high school work in less time.

Here is what he would like schools to be able to tell students: "If you graduate with a B average or better in three years instead of four, we'll give you 80 percent of the [money] value of the fourth year as a scholarship to any [college] you want to go to."

According to Gingrich, all the students he has talked to could have finished high school in three years. Under his plan, students throughout the nation could save themselves a year's time--and they would be rewarded with scholarship money. Their high school also would save some money by not having to pay for an additional year of education for each of the participating students.

But some students don't like Gingrich's idea. "I don't know of any juniors who are [mature enough to go to college], said a Pittsburgh, Pa., high school senior. "I think the majority of kids need four years of high school."

"Who said [a social life] is not an important part of growing up?" protested Superintendent Lawrence E. Bozzomo of the North Allegheny (Pa.) School District. "Why in the world would you want to deprive them of that? I don't think Mr. Gingrich was deprived of his prom or other social events."

What do you think? Should students be allowed to shorten their years in high school in return for scholarship money?