A Controlling Legal Authority

We have bar exams for lawyers.  We have all manner of licensing for teachers, doctors, operating engineers, even hair stylists.  Without debating their merits, they at least provide an independent check on the applicants' competence beyond whatever post-secondary education they may have successfully completed.  Maybe we should apply this concept earlier.

Mitch Berg at Shot In The Dark goes long on a theory I've expoused myself, that the high school diploma has become so worthless and higher education so ubiquitous that employers are insisting on four year degrees to wait tables.  And why not?  As one of his commenters notes, college graduates are readily applying for clerical and simple bookkeeping jobs.

As if this job market situation isn't proof enough, we also know that more than 1 in 3 Minnesota public high school graduates find that they need remedial work when entering a Minnesota public college or university.  I remember an MPR piece quoting a student surprised that her college expected her to read an entire book, something her high school had never demanded of her. 

I've even heard it said that the only sure way to avoid this surprise is to take Advanced Placement classes as they have independent testing.  Everything else is subject to the officially denied yet unofficially undeniable practices of grade inflation and social promotion.  Even the premiere districts like Eden Prairie are now clearly going this direction as The Activist Next Door has been reporting.

So rather than state curriculum requirements and high stakes state graduation testing, maybe we need to get our high schools - public and private - out of the diploma writing business.  For to maximize state funding, it has become a business.  Flunk a junior and he likely drops out, so socially promote him to be a senior bringing in several thousand dollars.  Better to inflate a promising sophomore's grades lest her demanding parents go shopping elsewhere.

Just as SAT's and ACT's independently assess high schooler's college readiness, why not contract with a similar testing organization to actually test profeciency and certify degrees appropriately?  The district will issue a "diploma application" saying the student should be able to pass this exam.  But the real diploma is not issued until they do.

This would not be high stakes testing per se; you can retake it without penalty or stigma, the submitting school district paying the cost.  Yes, schools might "teach the test" but that's still progress over the current enlightened pragmatism that lets too many thousands of kids skate by, even those college bound.

Oh, and one more thing: aggregrate and publish the results by school.  There will no longer be an excuse for one district's "diploma ready" students failing so much more than another district.

 

Comments

[The Big Stink]

I've always argued that compulsory education is wrong. Insisting that a disruptive or unmotivated student stay in school is only polluting the well. If we insist on making them stay in school, place them in some sort of basic training for the work world - vocational school for jobs which won't condemn them to a life of minimum wage. If you can't give them a degree, give them a skill. Don't just give them a degree so you can keep the gravy train rolling.

[Speed Gibson]

I see the Legislature is again considering a bill to refuse driver licensing to dropouts. So a kid trapped in a hopelessly inept school who rationally decides to go the GED route is to be punished? And what if we suddenly only graduate the truly qualified? Bad idea.

[Les Wes]

"they at least provide an independent check on the applicants' competence"

I think the employers willingness to hire/the viability of their business is a much stronger check on their competence. Making state licensing little more than a protectionist barrier to entry.

[The Big Stink]

Speed: Make the new law retroactive to include anyone who is currently licensed to drive and does not have a GED. It would take 75% of the cabbies off the road.

[Give2Attain]

I have never figured out why all these states feel the need to come up with their own stds and tests, when the ACTs and SATs are readily available. We must be protecting someones job...

Ok you need a least an ~18 on your ACT... Seems pretty simple.

[The Big Stink]

Give: Stink's Law Of Competence: When any political person says something is incredibly complex, it is stump simple. Whenever any political person says something is stump simple, it is a labyrinth of complexity.

[Speed Gibson]

I love Stink's Law! "Drill, baby drill!" is stump simple but try to get Congress off the schneid.

[Speed Gibson]

I hate the thought of yet another law and bureaucracy. But I hate the damnable fraud that is going on in our public schools even more. Either they must answer to the free market (vouchers) or to independent audits of their results.

[The Big Stink]

The good news is, Speed - it's coming. The stench of incompetence cannot be perfumed over forever.