“Learn. Plan. Succeed.- A Degree For Life”, as Mayor Rahm Emanuel puts it. A more proper name: “Debt For Life,” especially for the less wealthy. Mayor Emanuel plans to make it a requirement that students must have one of the following to receive their high school diploma: a college acceptance letter, military enlistment letter, acceptance at a job program, acceptance into a trades pre-apprenticeship/apprenticeship, acceptance into a gap year program, or current job evidence/job offer. I believe that we should not put forth Mayor Emanuel’s plan, but instead scrap the idea. I think this is unfair for poor students, as well as African-Americans and Latinos. Due to racial targeting, African-Americans and Latinos are generally forced to live in poorer …show more content…
CBS News said, “The plan would allow students in special circumstances to waive the requirement. Undocumented immigrants, English language learners and currently incarcerated students would be able to apply for a waiver with Chicago Public Schools.” This means that some students, under very special circumstances, would be able to ignore the graduation requirements. While this may be true, CPS may disregard family emergencies, injuries, or other life-changing events. Students should be allowed to continue their education without having to redo a year of school, even if they had to take a break. On the other hand, they could use a gap year program. The trouble with this is not everyone can stick to a structured gap year program plan depending on their situation, so they may just need to take a year off on their own. Some gap years even cost money and are hard to get into. This creates more of an issue for students who simply need their diploma in order to get through their lives, but they are stopped right after high school due to an emergency that limits what they are able to