High Life / A WEEKLY FORUM FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS : Driven to Punish Dropouts

The West Virginia Supreme Court, in a 3-2 decision, recently upheld the nation’s first state law denying 16- and 17-year-old high school dropouts the right to drive, according to a story in the NEA Today, newspaper of the National Education Assn.

The 2-year-old law had been appealed by a dropout who argued he was entitled to a hardship exception because he couldn’t find a job if he didn’t have a license to drive.

Wrote Chief Justice Richard Neely: “A child who has an opportunity to go to school and deliberately chooses not to avail himself or herself of such opportunity demonstrates a general lack of responsibility.”

Neely’s opinion noted that a student’s license wouldn’t be revoked if the student leaves school with the consent of administrators.

The majority opinion said that before a student quits, school officials have to provide a hearing to notify the student of the consequences.

Three Orange County high school seniors were recently honored by the National Achievement Scholarship Program for Outstanding Negro Students.

Roberto S. Almeida, Nadine Chang and John C. White were among 540 black students honored nationwide by the program, which will hand out more than $3 million in scholarships sponsored by 110 corporations, foundations, and about 50 colleges and universities.

Almeida, a student at Garden Grove High, received a $2,000 scholarship funded by the Exxon Education Foundation. Chang, a student at Woodbridge High in Irvine, was awarded a $2,000 scholarship funded by a pool of foundations. White, a student at Brea-Olinda High, received an Honorary Achievement Award, which recognizes superior academic achievement but does not award scholarship money.

“The place of the father in the modern suburban family is a very small one, particularly if he plays golf.”

--Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)