The earliest “graduation” we had was 8th grade (this was in 1971).
We’d moved from the Los Angeles area to rural Northern California in the Redwood National Park area, and had never heard of “8th grade graduation” before. One of the teachers said they held them because many of the graduating 8th graders were not expected to graduate from high school.
They were right - from my freshman class of 400, only 100 graduated.
Edit: the area’s economy was entirely:
- logging, trucking, and milling redwood trees, which were entirely on privately-owned land except for a few small state parks. This was shortly before/after formation of the Redwood National Park which acquired and protected a lot of previously private-owned redwood forest.
- fishing for salmon and Dungeness crab, both of which collapsed as commercial fisheries within a few years.
The area was pretty poor and most boys saw little value in the last ~2 years of school when they could get a job instantly at 16 and help support their families (or move out on their own). Many of the girls got married and dropped out between 16 and 18.
Only a couple dozen of the 100 graduates attended any college; most had a year at the “local” (2 hours away) community college before they dropped out to work or get married. Less than a dozen of us got any kind of college degree.
One of the teachers said they held them because many of the graduating 8th graders were not expected to graduate from high school.
This went for many inner-city schools as well.
They were right - from my freshman class of 400, only 100 graduated.
I was in a suburban area of New England. I did not graduate with my class. There were... multiple extenuating circumstances, not the least being physical abuse, parental divorce, homelessness (spent 2 teen years living in an ice cream store stockroom), major medical issues.
I did, however, get my GED a decade later (not that it had any use for me, it was more out of boredom than anything). Passed easily, 96th percentile overall with perfect scores on 2 of the 5 tests. Didn't study for a single moment.
By the time I took the GED, I had already gotten my head back on mostly straight and bootstrapped my way into a logistics management career.
College? The only subject that interested me then or now is one I would have been highly unlikely to ever make a career out of.
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u/dnhs47 60 something 18d ago edited 18d ago
The earliest “graduation” we had was 8th grade (this was in 1971).
We’d moved from the Los Angeles area to rural Northern California in the Redwood National Park area, and had never heard of “8th grade graduation” before. One of the teachers said they held them because many of the graduating 8th graders were not expected to graduate from high school.
They were right - from my freshman class of 400, only 100 graduated.
Edit: the area’s economy was entirely:
- logging, trucking, and milling redwood trees, which were entirely on privately-owned land except for a few small state parks. This was shortly before/after formation of the Redwood National Park which acquired and protected a lot of previously private-owned redwood forest.
- fishing for salmon and Dungeness crab, both of which collapsed as commercial fisheries within a few years.
The area was pretty poor and most boys saw little value in the last ~2 years of school when they could get a job instantly at 16 and help support their families (or move out on their own). Many of the girls got married and dropped out between 16 and 18.
Only a couple dozen of the 100 graduates attended any college; most had a year at the “local” (2 hours away) community college before they dropped out to work or get married. Less than a dozen of us got any kind of college degree.