GA's solution to low graduation rates? Dumb down the High School Diploma

[Erose999]

http://flagpole.com/Weekly/CapitolImpact/CapitolImpact-1Sep10
< article >
Independent estimates put the state’s high school graduation rate at 65 percent or lower, which should be distressing to anyone who’s concerned about Georgia’s future prosperity.

Fortunately, we have some legislators who have put a lot of thought into this question and have come up with a solution: we can improve the high school graduation rate by lowering educational standards and making it easier for students to get a diploma.

Rep. Steve Davis (R-McDonough), who’s in the real estate business in Henry County, introduced legislation last year that would move the state toward this goal. Davis’ bill, known as HB 215, would require the Department of Education to provide alternative diplomas for students to choose as they enter the ninth grade: a college preparation diploma with course requirements similar to what we have now and a career/vocational/technical diploma that would require fewer courses than for a college prep diploma.

Davis’ bill would also create a “general diploma” for students to choose. This would only require you to pass 18 classroom credits, as opposed to 23 for a college prep diploma. Students would not have to be bothered with taking so many of those boring courses in math, science, and English. Best of all, students would only have to attend high school for three years rather than four to graduate. < / article >

The author doesn't mention in the article that GA actually HAD a general diploma at one time. And the state legislature decided to do away with the general diploma in 1995 or so (my second year into High School). I had planned on receiving my general diploma and doing the minimum amount of work necessary to graduate. However, when they did away with the general, I recognized that High School would not be something I could just phone-it-in for, and I re-dedicated myself to my studies. It was through this effort that I was able to go to college. Had I received a general diploma and went right into the workforce as I had planned, I would probably be working an unskilled job in a carpet mill instead of getting a college degree and working more skilled labor.

I don't think GA would set a good example to its students by lowering the bar.

[ingac70]

1. That makes sense....

to have a Gen ed. diploma and a college prep one. Not everyone is cut out for college, and the ones that change their minds later can take developmental courses at college.

[bherrera]

3. Indeed it makes sense

The use of two diplomas makes sense. It may be a problem if a young student decides to become a lower class member without a college education, and then he can not enter college because he has the wrong diploma. Therefore the best solution is to provide those with lesser interest in education with subsidized training to become tradesmen. They should have the option to study to become plumbers, electricians, ambulance workers, elevator repairmen, and other trades which pay well.

[enlightenment]

5. I agree, but they should start from the same minimum -

my kid graduated with a college prep diploma in 1998; the requirements were the same as the general PLUS more. The point shouldn't be to make the general a lighter-weight choice, but to make the college prep a more committed one. Many states have tiered graduation programs; the Georgia bill is wrong in the effort to dumb down the requirements for the general rather than pumping up the requirements for the college prep option.

[BulletproofLandshark]

2. To quote the late, great George Carlin:

"We know what they want, more for themselves and less for everyone else… and they don't want an educated citizenry…. they want obedient workers… people who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paper work and just dumb enough to passively accept the increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime, and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it."

[RKP5637]

4. GO USA!!! GO USA!!! GO USA!!! Home of the failed dreams! n/t

[aikoaiko]

6. This may help students stay HOPE scholarship eligible if they do end up pursuing college

And the HOPE Scholarship pays for all public college/univ tuition and some book money.

[Erose999]

7. I forgot to mention in the OP that GA already has 2 degrees, a college prep degree and a

Vocational / Technical degree.

The College Prep degree is obviously meant for kids who want to go to college, the "Vo/Tech" degree is meant for kids who just want to enter the workforce.

The vocational/technical degree is more about job training and less about math/science/English/the arts. So there is already an option for kids who don't want the intellectual challenge.

This is just about improving the state's image by raising the graduation rate, hence the reduced number of credits required and the dumbed down curriculum. You can claim it helps kids go to college on the HOPE scholarship, but those kids will just have to take the extra courses at a community college before they can go to "real college" anyway. Might as well require them to do it in High School, the state will be paying for it either way.

And I know this because I actually had to graduate Vo/Tech instead of College Prep because by the time they did away with the general it was too late for me to go College Prep. I spent a year at a Junior College taking the classes I should have taken in High School. And the only thing that got me into that Junior College was my high SAT score.

[Erose999]

8. kick for the night shift n/t