RyansWorld: Mandatory high school education
From Future
In the year 2030, an amendment was made to Canadamerica's constitution making it mandatory for all residents to have at least a high school diploma. An equal law would follow in the People's Republic of China five years later and in the European Union/United States of Europe ten years later. The legislated punishment for not having a high school diploma includes disenfrachisement, the complete loss of citizens' rights, and the inability to acquire or retain a driver's license of any type. There is no retroactive cut off date for people to be included into a grandfather clause; all citizens over the age of 18 must have at least a high school diploma to maintain their civil rights. High schools (and school boards) may legally keep students until they are 35 years old (up from 21 years of age as of 2009) so that everyone can have a chance of having a high school diploma (and full civil rights).
Married students would be allowed to continue their studies provided that both spouses attend the same school and are at least 21 years of age as of their official wedding day. The world of academia would be more tolerable to unwed mothers and married mothers who are trying to raise their children and get their high school diploma (that will be mandatory in a future society). In addition to the amendments making it mandatory for the government to help people find housing and jobs, the high school diploma helps keep literacy levels high in males and females. This "piece of paper" (later becoming completely electronic and running on solar power) also marks the beginning of the end for humans in dangerous and unskilled jobs; any job that has a likelyhood for non-intentional fatalities (read: deadly occupational hazards) will be relegated to robots.
These robots will be maintained by the humans in "safe" white collar office jobs. Had every adult citizen had at least a high school diploma during the late-2000s recession, then the effects of the layoffs might have been mitigated somewhat. Since humans will not able about to operate firearms under any circumstance or drive vehicles instead of using a chauffeur robot, forcing people to have a high school diploma will motivate them to jobs where they design the robot soldiers/patrolmen and create the robots that will drive the hovercars of tomorrow. Army jobs tended to be the workplace for people without high school diplomas; high school diplomas can be seen as the "papers of peacekeeping" that would finally see these uneducated specimens displaced.
By the year 2050, there will be no more "blue collar" jobs left in the world and even "burger flipping" jobs will require that the person be at least 18 years of age with a high school diploma (raised from 15 in 2009); promoting life-long education and discouraging dropping out. When looking ahead another 55 years to the year 2105, a twelfth grade education in the United States of Earth will be roughly equivalent to a PhD-level education in an early 21st century North American or Western European university.
