The high school education system, or any learning set-up for that matter, is designed at a certain phasing that is expected to fit the majority, if not all, of the students' learning curve at the age bracket it was meant to support. But, as to any trend of data in most statistics, the speed or phasing of learning of student follow, say, a bell curve, which is to say that there are those who would be learning at a faster phase than the standard phasing in which the high school curriculum is set. A popular fictional example of this is Hermione Granger of the Harry Potter stories. She simply loved learning and studying. And so, there was a time when she was allowed to be in possession of a time turner so she can take extra classes that are in conflict with other classes in schedule. Now, a student of this phasing of learning obviously will be felt hindered following the normal educational phase. If the organic way for her (or him) is to take up more classes than what is indicated in the curriculum, in will produce more pros than cons.
For a Hermione Granger type of student, those at the right side of the bell curve, the most important positive point of speeding up her education is that he or she can perform at his or her most comfortable level. This level is where the most productivity is. Against this, some of the cons to look at are the loss of income of the high school or, graduating earlier than their friends There are no cons whatsoever in terms of acceptability in college. In fact, acceleration in high school is a positive weight in college applications, as these students are stereotypically bright - on the right side of the intelligence bell curve. However, of course, this entails hard work and extra study load than normal. Accelerated high school education is therefore encouraged only to those determined to finish high school early.
Some of the not-so Hermione Granger type of student may want to accelerate his or her education for some special reasons. The British-practice of gap year - wherein students spent a year between secondary and tertiary education to explore life outside college for a variety of reason: find themselves, seek out their passion, experience other countries, have work experience, etc. - can be a fulfilling achievement to consider pursuing a shortened high school life. Some may simply do not enjoy high school, and want to proceed immediately to the bigger league. Some may simply want to save the extra-year expenses. Whichever the reason, the requirements and cons are the same. It requires long hours at night and on weekends, lesser party life, may miss out on the promenade, and graduation of students of the same age. So long as these requirements are met and the cons weigh lesser to one's own objective at having an accelerated education, right side of the bell curve or not, there is no reason why a student should not graduate early in high school.
