Wonderful. I wanted to get my GED when I was 16, and found it frustrating that it wasn't possible for me to do. I can't see any reason why we would require kids to wait until they're 18 to get their diploma.

Times have changed. A GED is not a high school diploma. These days, GED earners are statistically more similar to dropouts than high school graduates in terms of lifetime earnings and other measures of success.

Do we really want kids making such fundamental decisions about their lives when they aren't even old enough to vote? It is not enough just to require parental permission. Recent surveys of high school dropouts show that they later regret that decision and wish that their teachers and parents had encouraged them to finish.

There is currently an option in the law (22.1-254) for students to work toward a GED starting at age 16 IF the school principal and their parents agree, the student is counselled about the economic consequences of failing to complete high school, and the student enrolls (and stays enrolled) in an approved GED program. The student also has to receive career guidance counselling. The student is released from compulsory education upon attainment of the GED.

The minimal protections currently in the law are designed to prevent students from making decisions they will later regret and should not be relaxed.

Times have changed.

Since 1996? I suspect not.

A GED is not a high school diploma. These days, GED earners are statistically more similar to dropouts than high school graduates in terms of lifetime earnings and other measures of success.

You're confusing correlation with causation, Angela. Getting a GED does not cause lower income later in life.

Failing to graduating from high school and then, later in life, compensating for it with a GED correlates with lower earnings and, I speculate, dropping out from high school causes that lower income.

The sort of kid who wants and is capable of getting at the age of 16 is precisely the opposite of this sort of person. These are home schoolers, kids who are bored in high school because there is insufficient challenger, or children who would like to begin college early

If it's possible for a 16-year-old high school dropout to pass the GED test, clearly he has no use for another two years of school. Why would we spend tens of thousands of tax dollars education a kid who -- along with his parents -- is fully qualified to graduate?

Even assuming that 16 year-olds who earn GEDs have the qualifications that we desire in high school graduates and that employers don’t penalize them for not exercising the diligence it takes to finish high school, how is this bill an improvement upon existing law? Today, with parent permission, a student can enroll in an approved GED program at 16 and be released from compulsory education upon passing the GED test.

This bill, however, is not limited to students who are bored and insufficiently challenged and who are capable of passing the test. Unlike existing law, the bill takes no precautions to ensure that the student can even pass the GED pretest, much less the GED itself.

It does nothing to ensure that students who are falling behind in school do not use this as a way to drop out, either intentionally or simply because passing the GED turns out not to be as easy as it sounded. Relaxing rules to allow teenagers to get GEDs will just result in more teenagers enrolling in GED programs and increased dropout rates when they don't complete them. The dropout effect is mitigated by requiring parental permission, but that option is already part of existing law.

Moreover, the bill is unclear as to whether the compulsory education law would cover these students. If it does apply, how would you monitor a student’s attendance in the GED program for the next two years to make sure s/he is not truant? If it does not, then it is simply a way of lowering the age of compulsory education back down to 16 and letting low-achieving students fall through the cracks instead of providing them the intensive services they need to earn a standard diploma.