It does if it is politically unacceptable to flunk too many people out of high school. The political pressure to graduate everyone is increasing. In his latest State of the Union Address, the president told states they should require everyone to stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18.
I agree that current ideology and romanticism is getting in the way of helping students find what they're good at (rather than what adults think they should be good at). And pushing everyone to pass the Regents exam is crazy, and lowering standards to do it isn't going to fool anyone except the edumacators.
Encouraging students to stay in school would be a good thing IF the schools were presenting a range of options to them, such as vocational education programs. These programs are free and students graduate from high school with skills that qualify them for good jobs. But they're getting less and less attention as schools push students to go to college.
