Foreign exchange students deserve real diplomas

This should be a no-brainer. The student meets all the requirements to graduate, passes the California High School Exit Exam. But Morgan Hill Unified School District refuses to grant some students regular diplomas.Why? He or she is a foreign exchange student.
That was the decision by a majority of school board members who voted 5-2 to hand out only “honorary” diplomas to foreign exchange students Federica Bruno and Lisa Gilardi, of Italy.
The arguments against handing out a real diploma – as other graduates receive – are specious.
First, board trustee Kathy Sullivan said she was worried about staff time spent transcribing transcripts.
Other districts that allow regular diplomas are larger than MHUSD and have more staff and a system in place to award diplomas, she said. What? The students, on F-1 visas, pay $8,245 to the district directly to study abroad for the year and there are usually no more than half a dozen or so here at a time. That should be enough money to determine if the classes they took in their first three years match those of students taken here.
Second, Sullivan said the decision “has nothing to do with the work and value, it has to do with what our diploma means and what criteria it represents,” said Sullivan. “I worry then, it weakens what our diplomas stands for.”
So, two hard-working students who have met all the requirements that their peers have met don’t qualify for a MHUSD diploma, but a student who struggles and gets by with D grades, barely passes the CAHSEE, earns a diploma? The value of the diploma would be increased if Bruno and Gilardi were awarded diplomas, signifying the hard work they did to reach their goals.
Finally, board trustee Peter Mandel said the expectation for foreign exchange students to come to the United States and want a diploma would not be expected if the situation were reversed. So what. Maybe it’s time for us to take the lead and show the rest of the world what can happen when you reach out.
We urge the host parents to continue their fight.
We should be building bridges not walls.