President Obama addressed the state of high school graduation in his State of the Union speech Tuesday night.
"I am proposing that every state, every state, requires that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18," Obama said.
Not every principal is certain that's enough to fix the problem of high school graduation, but many said it could be a productive first step.
Principal Lou Lavely, from Travelers Rest High School said, "Just simply saying they have to stay there until they're 18 is not enough it could be a step in the right direction but it is not the only thing we need to do to keep kids in school."
At Travelers Rest High School the graduation rate is very close to the state average. About 73.6% of South Carolina students graduated on time in 2011. At T.R. it was about 72%.
Principal Lavely said his staff focuses on at risk students as early as their freshman year and provides extra attention to subjects like reading and math.
Lavely said there are as many different causes of low graduation numbers as their are individual dropouts.
But , because South Carolina only requires students to stay in school until age 17, Lavely said the Obama proposal may still help.
"it would provide a time frame that would be extended so that if nothing else as a society and a community we say staying in school is important enough to say you need to stay in school until you're old enough to vote," he said
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