Tastie Buds and Killer Waves

Thinking about all the Spicoles of the world who are working to undermine the motivation of our brightest students, I began to think about those who want our students to achieve bigger and better things. Just the other day in my summer class, we had a great discussion of the value of the high school diploma and the G.E.E. (graduate exit exam). The whole discussion was based on the fact that the teacher believed that the diploma should not be a mandatory requirement for employment. Social policy dictates that by law every person has to attend school until 16 years old (Louisiana law). Does that mean the law is enforced? Do I always get what I want when I got through the drive through at Wendy's? Exactly my point. Why should we have a compulsory attendance law, if our society doesn't require a high school diploma for a job requirement? This double standard is something that is pervasive throughout our society, especially in lower socio economic status families. It is there were education is needed most, and it's there were education usually is halted before 11th grade. I happen to believe in our country today, which is built upon the capitalistic ideas, there is an underlying theme of hopelessness within the educational system. This same system that we need to have thriving in order to compete and provide a better marketplace for our children. Why is it that no one cares if our high school graduation rate is below 60 percent? Or that No Child Left Behind, means that we don't care if your kid can't make the grades. He is then kicked out of school, because we have to get our numbers up in order to met accountability standards under NCLB. Every child has the ability to learn, does that mean every child is a doctor or lawyer? No, but what it does mean is that we should place more value on the high school diploma in our society as a basis for achievement. Just like passing the driver's test at the DMV. (By the way, I almost failed the driving portion of the test when I told the driving inspector that I should get extra points if I run over a squirrel.)
I think that no matter what their are going to be stories of those who never made it through high school and became successful (John Travolta- Scientologist, go figure). The point is that more often that not you will have more stories of the satisfaction from receiving their diploma and more value on school if you put more emphasis on the diploma.
Lastly, the G.E.E. is a standardized test that many states are pushing their public schools students to take sometime after sophomore year in order to graduate from high school. I think this places another level of accountability on schools. Instead of just passing students because they are 21 and still in 10th grade, they have to get the students to learn how to read and write. Still, their is a double standard for private schools because they don't have to take the test. I think they should. It would create major problems in certain private schools where they will be blasted for being to lax with their curriculum, but it would also increase the credibility of those institutions that promote higher learning within the private sector. The rant is over. These are my opinions and they are always open to criticism, it's just that being a teacher I have a great interest in this and wish others would too.