Trustees of the Morgan Hill Unified School District will face an
important question during tonight’s regular meeting. They must
decide if they will allow students who have not passed the
California High School Exit Exam to participate in graduation
ceremonies, even though, by state mandate, they will not be
receiving a diploma?
Trustees of the Morgan Hill Unified School District will face an important question during tonight’s regular meeting. They must decide if they will allow students who have not passed the California High School Exit Exam to participate in graduation ceremonies, even though, by state mandate, they will not be receiving a diploma?

In a word, the answer should be “no.”

Passing the CAHSEE requires seventh grade reading comprehension and arithmetic, plus the merest smattering of 9th grade algebra and tenth grade geometry. It is a shame that every senior in Morgan Hill cannot pass it.

It is a greater shame that last year, and for many years in the past, thousands of students in this state received diplomas because they had accrued seat time and amassed credits and accumulated grades but had somehow, despite 13 years of tax-financed public school education, missed being educated enough to read and understand passages from “The Call of the Wild.”

Students who cannot pass the CAHSEE should not be stigmatized. Some special education students will not be able to pass it, in spite of hard work and good attitudes, and the state has recently addressed that concern through allowing these students to graduate if the district displays an honest and documented attempt to educate them.

The occasional student who drops out for three of her four high school years may indeed find herself too far behind to pass by age 18. Some students who have recently immigrated to the United States may not be able to pass it. That is reasonable. Who among us would be able to earn a Belgian or Korean diploma if we emigrated to those nations in our teens?

Who among us would expect to be handed a diploma if we could not read as well as a Belgian or Korean 13-year-old?

The students who do not pass should not be stigmatized.

They should receive certificates of completion. They should be offered opportunities, reaching beyond their 18th birthdays, to pass the silly test and gain the parchment.

Though some students may not be motivated to learn for the sake of learning, all of them are motivated to learn for the sake of a piece of paper – their diploma.

It is entirely probable that some students will likewise learn for the sake of a gown, a hat, and a handshake. And motivating students to learn is a worthy endeavor.

Those who cannot pass it should not be stigmatized, but the diploma and the ceremony of receiving it must be earned.

A diploma should mean that one has mastered a demanding secondary school curriculum and is ready for the rigors of a four-year university or the responsibilities of the job-place.

Passing the CAHSEE ensures neither of those. But at least it is a start to showing some degree of proficiency.

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