I took a moment to read the post by kctenac16. In retrospect, please understand that a diploma is anything but worthless. I worked diligently to earn my advanced diploma and I am glad that I chose to do so. If you truly earn it, it instills a sense of accomplishment and shows others your determination to succeed. Granted, it is only one part of a much larger picture, but an integral part indeed! Obviously, you should have completed the advanced diploma. Perhaps you should check your punctuation, capitalization and sentence structure. Oh, and, while you are at it, you may want to proofread your resume…just a suggestion. Good luck in your endeavors and congratulations on your graduation.

It never ceases to amaze me the influx of job applications that I recieve which are incomplete or unreadable. Believe me, I get them from high school students as well as college grads and those who are in-between. I have hired and fired more “qualified” applicants than I can remember. Most simply do not want to work. Some, as rmseek1234 said, are unable to make change during a power outage. If you notice, there are several posts on this forum which are grammatical train wrecks. (shaking my head) Most of them have a difficult time making it to work on time…if they show up at all. My point is that there is a vast majority of graduates who simply are not ready or unable to function in a work related environment. I am not exactly sure what the schools are teaching these days, but it certainly is not preparing these individuals for the “real world”. Many of them arrive for an interview unprepared and wearing improper attire. Most of these “graduates” are about as sharp as a marble.

I’s interesting that many students who fail the Exam Exams have report slips showing they passed all their classes.  Do they know the subject materials or not?  I think the daily work in the classroom, evaluated by the teachers, is a trurer picture of what each student has learned than those Exit Exams.  If the teacher is empowered to award a passing grade to a student, I think we should trust the teacher’s judgment!  Our daughter failed her Exit Exam, but earned all the credits she needed to graduate.  A friend told us about THE OAKS PRIVATE SCHOOL http://www.theoaksprivatechool.com in Florida.  They are a legal, FLDOE recognized school who awards Diplomas to students throughout the US who’ve earned enough credits to graduate.  They ARE NOT a diploma mill.  The student must have truly earned enough credits.  The school does charge for the service, but it’s not too much, considering our daughter now has a real diploma - not just a certificate.

whether you get the basic, advanced, or honors diploma, all 3 are worthless. i was in honors making As and Bs in high school when halfway through my sophomore year i woke up and dropped to basic to make it easier on myself b/c i figured out IT DIDNT MATTER which diploma i got. now, im graduating from college in december, making my resume, and no where on there do I mention a high school diploma b/c its meaningless.

i also wonder if the drop out rate will decrease if children are challenged more, through the Advanced Diploma. How many kids have dropped out of school, because they were bored, or goofed off and failed because they were bored? Why not set our expectations of our kids high?

It also concerns me, that some of the posters that brag about the graduation exam, are writing functionally illiterate sentences. Perhaps they were typing too fast and did not realize. If though, the end result of a “graduation exam” is to pass a test, but not be able to write a sentence, then perhaps it has worked. I personally think we need to give the classrooms back to the TEACHERS and not to the political system-the State Department, Barton, etc. JMHO

I agree with working4u that a high school diploma in and of itself will not prepare you for todays world. Sometimes, even college doesn’t do that. I think the Advanced Diploma is a great way to motivate more kids to pursue advanced education. The coursework is college prep and prepares them for taking the ACT/SAT and for life after high school.

There are alot of good points on this thread. We do need to encourage our kids and help them excel. We don’t need to hand them a free ticket-earn your diploma. But what happened to the days of teachers giving final exams? I think we need to rethink some of the standardized tests. Perhaps the kids are not passing them, because what is on them was not taught. These tests are developed by pencil pushers behind desks, that have little or no actual classroom experience. I would be interested to know if the drop out rate increased since the advent of graduation exams. continued…..

I do not understand what all of the confusion is about. Twenty five years ago I could understand all of the contoversy over this new rule . Who cares what weighs on a High School Diploma today? If you plan on getting a College Degree you are going to have to pass the entry exams. No shortcuts. No exceptions. If you emphasis to your child that a High School Diploma alone will allow them to make a decent paycheck you might as well expect that child to live at home for a long time. Wake up parents this is not the 70sor 80s. In todays world a normal education is not a High School Diploma. Well, it is if you do not intend on paying rent/mortgage, untilities, food, car note, savings or decide to have children. If you want to literally be poor for your entire adult life, just stop at that High School Education. Basic Diploma, Advanced Diploma, unless you futhur your education in a technical field or get your College Degree you will struggle all through life and end up with nothing.

With all the teachers Mobile County has fired now they will have to make the test easier.

I really do not understand their way of thinking. If you can not pass a test and have the oppurtunity to take the test more than once and then are still unable to pass, then why should they get away with passing at all. I know a student at MGM that does not have all the required credits needed for graduation but is still being allowed to walk. She told me last summer that after graduation she will go to summer school to make up the credits she needs. Now correct me if I’m wrong but if she and her parents knew last summer that she was lacking credits then why was she not required by the school last summer to make up the credits in summer school or required to go to night school instead of waiting until after graduation to make up anything. I mean really this is unreal these are credits she missed from ninth or tenth grade.  Come on either you earn it or you don’t. Why just give it to them, make them work for it. They are suppost to go to school to learn. What is this teaching them!!

Yes they do need to rethink this rule.. ... What is that saying to our kids?????? Its ok to slack off you will still get to graduate!!