You're a senior in high school; June finally rolls around and you can taste sweet freedom. Too bad you still have one year to go.

It's okay though, the curriculum up to 12th grade hasn't really changed since your parents were in high school, and 13th grade is supposed to be really fun. For a whole year, your only goal is to learn about financial planning, start learning a trade, plan out your college choices, find a few profession(s) you might be interested in, learn the legal basics of being an adult, talk to the school psychologist about your depression finally, start taking college courses through the local community college, or anything that involves learning about yourself with the guidance from some really amazing role models at the school.

Since the mid 20th century, the diversity of jobs in America has widened to an extreme amount. Manual labor still exists, but so does intellectual labor, technological labor, and interpersonal labor. This has caused a huge influx of information being emphasized in schools today.

Has human evolution really caught up to this increase in knowledge being shoved into the teenage brain? Or are we just selecting the 15% of people who can handle academics in the 21st century and allowing them to have access to the best jobs, creating a natural income gap?

The billions of dollars in lost economic development, which occurs every year from people who have not quite figured it all out yet, is a testament to the lack of time educators have with young people to isolate and diagnose the issues facing youths in the most radically stimulating period of time in human existence.

Imagine all the possibilities. A year to get mental health help. A year to learn fiscal responsibility and how car loans work. A year to start learning how to repair common household appliances. A year to learn about how to not get screwed at the auto mechanic. A year to take freshman English so you don't have to spend $1,000 dollars next year bullshitting papers again. A year to talk to someone, figure out some stuff, and just learn about yourself before trying to take on the world.

Should we be denying young people the freedom to explore what they want to explore at the most pivotal time in their lives,
without burdening them with the costs of adulthood? I dare say not only would the country prosper for it, but we would thrive.

How do we do this? Here's one of many ways: add three weeks and one day to the end of the school year (16 days times 11 summers equals 176 new school days...close enough). Now 11th grade becomes 12th grade, and 12th grade becomes 13th grade.

What about funding these extra 16 school days each year? The gained tax revenue from having adults who understand what they're doing in the world will pay for it and a lot more. Having adults who don't waste their 18th year of life wondering what the heck to do while wandering about with no plan or semblance of a direction will pay for it. Young people who have a grip on their mental health conditions will pay for it.

In 1916, high school grads were smart and well educated ready to take on the world. In 2016 though? High school grads are children who barely know how to do their own laundry and would probably starve to death if the local pizza place burned down.

Can we afford 13th grade? Who knows. Can we afford to not have 13th grade? You decide America. Vote now, standard message rates apply.