Early Graduation

Over the time of our recent 40th year high school class reunion, I had a chance to reflect on a decision my parents and I made 41 years ago--to graduate from high school after my third year.

As I recall, it happened like this: We showed up on enrollment day, prepared to enroll for my junior year. At some point, when I looked over the list of required credits, I realized I already had completed all but six of them. Since I had already routinely been earning six credits per year, it seemed like a simple matter to fit the right courses into the available slots and I could graduate at the end of the year. So I did. Three fellows did the same thing. All of them had been part of my class all the way though grade school. One of them confessed at the reunion that he had sort of slacked off the first two years, so he really had to work hard to finish, but he did so in fine shape.

I've known this for a long time, of course, but I didn't put things together till reunion weekend: Three of the four of us who did that high-school-in-three-years thing ended up getting education degrees. The other two are career teachers. The fourth is a minister.

Several conclusions:

1. An accelerated passage through high school did not, in our case, indicate a lifelong aversion to school and learning. Otherwise we would not have gone to college and become teachers.

2. Having all decided on the spur of the moment to graduate early meant that we had not spent our first two years cutting corners to make early graduation possible. We were "normal" students for two out of our three high school years.

3. We took some of the classes in college that we didn't have time for in high school. Nevin, for example, said he had not taken chemistry or upper level math classes in high school, but he did take them in college. I never did take the physiology, chemistry, or economics classes I missed out on in high school, but I did take world history classes in college. I steered clear of math as much as possible throughout, but had to take an algebra class in college that I could have taken in high school. In summary, all of us who went to college got what we wanted or needed there.

4. With one possible exception, those of us who went to college did not do so immediately after high school. The guys all lived on farms and helped their dads. I helped at home except for several days a week when I did housecleaning. Later I worked at a garden center for several years during their busy season. We did other things too like teaching vacation Bible school and Sunday School, traveling, and Voluntary Service. We lived at home till we were 21. Early graduation did not mean early college or leaving home early for other reasons. I had a full four years between high school graduation and leaving home for the first year of school teaching. When we hurried through high school, we were hurrying home, not hurrying away from home.

5. Although our principal allowed us to graduate in three years, I don't think he liked it much. To deter us, he informed us that none of us would be eligible for valedictorian or salutatorian honors. The disincentive wasn't persuasive enough to keep any of us from pursuing early graduation. I, at least, didn't think any of us were headed for those honors anyway. (The threat had teeth, as it turned out. The official salutatorian did, in fact, have a slightly lower GPA than several (?) of the early graduates.) Oh well. No big deal. We'd been fairly warned, and it was true that the four-year-graduates had maintained their GPA over a longer time period than we had. It seemed fair enough.

Would I do the same thing again? Would I recommend early graduation for others?

I'm fairly ambivalent on the matter. We allowed Joel to graduate early. We've had a number of students at our high school do the same. I've always felt OK about my own decision and our decision for Joel. When students at the school where I teach choose to graduate early, I have, for the most part, not felt like objecting. With perhaps a few exceptions, usually they have been students who were self-disciplined and capable of doing good work fast. There were probably more slackers among the four-year graduates than the three-year graduates.

I do find it disturbing when I sense a lack of industriousness and intellectual curiosity. I'm not impressed by students who summarily lop off from their schedule any class deemed to offer too little credit for the time involved. I would be reassured if they could base their decisions on what they might gain for the long term from a specific class, rather than how much work it involves in the short term.

I have heard from some early graduates that they wondered afterward why they had felt so compelled to hurry through school. While in some cases, there may have been a parental preference for the accelerated pace, I think in most cases, it was the students themselves who chose it. Others, like me, have few regrets. I suspect that those who lament the hurried trip, realize now that they sacrificed long term benefits for short term comfort.

Parents ought to be well-informed enough to help guide their children to a good decision on graduation goals. This assumes, of course, that they will want what is best for their child, and they will weigh many factors to reach a decision. The decision is best not left alone to a student who can hardly wait to stop working and start partying. It's likely that such people will find themselves all dressed up with no place to go. That would be a lot sadder than one more year of school would be.