HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA

Should a high school diploma have any quantifiable value? Does this diploma guarantee or assume a level of competence? Once a respected and proud symbol of achievement, a high school diploma is now equivalent to the currency of a South American Banana Republic.

Parents and students have the chutzpah to protest the exit exam which tests eighth and ninth grade proficiency in reading and math as a requirement for high school graduation. They claim that poor and minority students did not have the opportunity to learn - so they should graduate without learning?? What am I missing here?

No opportunity? How many days were they actually in school - and when in school, how much time was spent in class - and when in class were they paying attention, asking questions, asking for help?

Rowdy, disruptive, students roam the halls, not going to class, or completing assignments, ignoring teachers and creating anarchy and a lawless community. Does this constitute high school attendance qualifying for a high school diploma? Is attendance without participation and any evidence of effort and adequacy enough?
Is the student ever accountable for his failure to learn?

Two high school eleventh graders were volunteering in a kindergarten class I was teaching, to gain service credits. They said they wanted to be teachers. Delighted to have them, I asked what they were reading in English Lit class. Oh, you know that Catching book. Catcher in the Rye? Great - how do you like Holden Caulfield? Well, we didn’ really read it - it was too confusing. Confusing? yeah like when they went to the island. Island? Do you mean Lord of the Flies? Yeah that too - we didn’ read that either. Oh, what books did you read this year? We didn’ read nothing.