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Kentucky Dropout Age Debate Continues

The debate over the Kentucky law allowing 16 year olds to drop out of high school with parental permission is coming up again in this year's legislative session. Gov. Steve Beshear and his wife, Jane, along with a bevy of education officials, say lawmakers should support a bill that would gradually raise the legal dropout age from 16 to 18. It has failed in past sessions. Education experts say 6,000 to 7,000 students drop out of high school annually in the Commonwealth. Officials have also used alternative schools as another way to keep students from dropping out.

Whitney grew up listening to Car Talk to and from her family’s beach vacation each year, but it wasn’t until a friend introduced her to This American Life that radio really grabbed her attention. She is a recent graduate from Union University in Jackson, Tenn., where she studied journalism. When she’s not at WKMS, you can find her working on her backyard compost pile and garden, getting lost on her bicycle or crocheting one massive blanket.
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