RE: The country would probably be better off if half of the kids in high school weren’t there.
Where would you have them be instead?
I say....working, or going to trade school....doing jobs that illegals are doing. The last two years of high school can (not always) be merely the last brainwashing stages for the educrats...it's not necessary.
“Where would you have them be instead?”
Trades - especially if we send home the illegals that are now doing it all for us (but I live in Texas, so fat chance here).
I believe that the median educational attainment of the generation that won World War II was about eight years. I honestly believe that high school does more harm than good for most kids. If they worked at a job, or possibly received vocational training they would be far better off.
Incarcerating kids with bored, lazy bureaucrats until age sixteen is nonsensical. H.L. Mencken, for instance, was a high school drop out. Thomas Edison was home schooled from age 8 on. Mark Twain was apprenticed to a printer at age 12. Henry Ford had very little formal education. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates are both college drop outs.