(Updated)
From the Merc: “In what could become the first school-based rebellion against the state’s high-stakes high school exit exam law, one of the Bay Area’s largest school districts is considering awarding diplomas to seniors who have failed the exam but are otherwise qualified to graduate”
- What exactly does “otherwise qualified” mean?
“There’s a whole group of kids who are working really hard and, for whatever reason, can’t pass this exam,”
- Working hard is nice but not enough …
“Most of all, students realize that having a diploma is key to better job prospects. If you want a decent job, the diploma opens doors.”
- So it’s about entitlement? We deserve a diploma so we get better jobs.. even if we can’t pass a very basic exam?
I just don’t get it. There is a competitive world out there, at the end of High School it’s about high time (pun intended) to learn that achievement is what gets rewarded, not sitting through all these years.
Related posts:
- School Board Member Wants To Break Law
- What’s the aim of school?
- Is it just me, or is something wrong here?
Update (4/12): Why Johnny cannot get a tech job – a good example by Vinnie on what happens when we “pump out” high school graduates without proper educational achievements.
Update (8/11): Appeals court refuses diplomas for 20,000 who failed exit exam (SFGate, hat tip: Jeff Nolan). Justice Ruvolo: “A high school diploma is not an education, any more than a birth certificate is a baby.’’
Tags: education, exit exam, high school exit exam, california, california exit exam, cahsee
For the most part I do agree with you, but (and there is always a but) I dont’ think we can completely pin this on the students. If the students are not able to pass at this stage you have to ask why? Where did the schools fail. And the parents fail in making sure their children were where they needed to be.
Instead of an easy pass, they should be looking for a solution to get these kids to where they can takes the tests required and get the scores.
But it will take effort from the state, the schools, and the parents. And money. Our state doesn’t like to fork over money for education ya know.
The Merits of Exit Exams
The Democrats in California combine this nonsense with the equally nonsensical, but absolute dogma in liberal America, that failure is always somebody else’s fault. As the article reveals, it’s not the students to blame. It’s their …
Angie, I agree, especially with the parents’ responsibility. But the solution is not to push through uneducated kids who don’t even have basic writing or arithmetic skills. The exit exam has been in place for 5 years, it’s not an unexpected new roadblock.
And I go back to the parents and the schools. If this has been in place this long, how did these kids get to the grades they are with no one saying anything? No extra help being provided? Something being done?? Until now when they cannot pass the exams? These students should have had helped long ago to bring them up to speed by their parents, their teachers, school district, etc.
But is the solution to just punish the students when everyone around them failed? They should all, students included, be held accountable for this.
Nonsense
“An Alameda County Superior Court judge issued a tentative ruling today prohibiting the state from carrying out its plan to deny diplomas to tens of thousands of high school seniors in the Class of 2006 who have been unable to pass the exit exam.” (via…
Guaranteed a Diploma – Just Not an Education
Alameda County Judge Robert B. Freedman, a Democrat appointed by former Governor Pete Wilson, today decided to put a halt to the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE). Apparently, he found merit in the plaintiff’s contention that because there is