The high school diploma supposedly indicates *successful* completion of one’s studies, and the exit exams are so ridiculously basic level, if someone faisl them, sorry, they don’t demonstrate having achieved that.

It’s still OK to prefer artistic achievement instead of basic knowledge of grammar, science …etc – but than let’s be upfront about it and don’t require a piece of paper that says otherwise.

And while at it, frankly, I don’t even know who I am more unhappy about: the demonstrating students, or their parents, who also demonstrate instead of helping their kids get on their own feet.

Life is not a zero-sum game. The simplistic statement that “it’s a competitive world out there”, sounds very rat-race-centric to me. It’s one thing to be joshing with other rat-racers, and quite another to be mucking with kids lives.

Agree with this sentiment, but you are assuming an exit exam can measure this and it is the right way to measure it.

Being a high school graduate has almost no value these days and if one will go to college, has to take a standardized test (SAT) anyway. So what’s the value added by this exit exam?

It adds little to no value to a students education to study after 4 years for yet another “test”

And I’m saying this as someone who has always done well in tests, most likely better than many others who knew more but less test inclined.