Ky. parents strongly favor increasing school dropout age, a step that could make future high-school students healthier
increasing the state’s school dropout age, and doing so might help future high-school students’ health, according to the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, which sponsored the poll.
After being told the legislature may raise the dropout age to 18 from 16, 85 percent of Kentucky parents said they favor the move, and 77 percent of parents said they strongly favored it.
Besides their homes, school is where children
spend most of their time, and the overall health and well-being of students affect
their ability to learn. Healthy kids
learn better and students’ academic achievement in turn affects their ability to
be healthy and stay well in the future.
is a health issue, but research tells us that completing high school is
directly related to our health status in later life,” said Dr. Susan Zepeda, President and CEO of the foundation. “Increasing the dropout age is one
strategy aimed at improving the graduation rate in the state. We hope this polling data will encourage a
deeper conversation among parents, education experts and policy makers to
explore this and other strategies to help our children succeed at school and
lead a more healthy life.”
care, school and home life. It surveyed parents, step-parents,
grandparents, foster parents or other legal guardians of children in Kentucky.
The poll was
conducted in July and August 2012 by the Center for Survey Research at the University of Virginia. More than
1,000 parents and guardians of children under 18 from throughout the state were
interviewed by telephone, including landlines and cell phones. The survey’s margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Kentucky Health News is an
independent service of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues
at the University of Kentucky, with support from the Foundation for a Healthy
Kentucky.