When does no diploma mean a diploma? In California! - Granite Grok

When does no diploma mean a diploma? In California!

SchoolhouseThis caught my eye over at Big Government:

On January 1, California residents will have to accustom themselves to a number of new laws that will be implemented in the state. These are some the laws that will likely have the most profound effect:

SB 172: High school seniors will receive their diploma whether or not they pass or even take an exit exam; the law also applies retroactively to students who have graduated since 2004;

And I thought it was bad enough when former NH Governor John Lynch decided to turn around our high school dropout rate simply by redefining the age at which students could drop out of school.  I blogged about  it at the time (and so did Steve) that this was as stupid as it comes – what set of morons truly believed that forcing kids who didn’t want to be in a classroom were going to actually learn more simply because their butts had to be in a school seat?  Malarkey – but it made the Left feel good about themselves for “improving” education (and, coincidently and for a major Democrat Special Interest Group, took heat off the teacher unions for failing our taxpayer supported students in an entitlement manner.  No, not entitlement for the kids but for the teachers.).

But hey, is what California done any worse?  I think so – at least the NH kids had to show up.  In California, they don’t – and why should they?  If the formerly mandatory exit exams are de jure no longer mandatory, and they no longer have to get a passing grade, what’s the point of going?

Really – for kids who don’t care, why bother?  Or those “marginalized kids”, what’s the real incentive?

And in making it retroactively, has California reduced the value of a California High School diploma to being little better than a tiny plastic “you showed up” soccer trophy?

Except the resources to provide the trophy run a couple of bucks and everyone knows its worthless while a diploma costs the community hundreds of thousands of dollars…

…but is still worthless.

Yes ma’am, your taxes at work.  Unemployable for feeling GOOD about yourself for a blank piece of paper.

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