Our View: Seniors who don’t pass the CAHSEE should not be
stigmatized but the integrity of what it means to receive a high
school diploma must be preserved
Should Gilroy High School allow students who have not passed the California High School Exit Exam to participate in graduation ceremonies, even though, by state mandate, they will not be receiving a diploma? Well, no. Passing the CAHSEE requires seventh grade reading comprehension and arithmetic, plus the merest smattering of 9th grade algebra and tenth grade geometry. It is a shame that every senior in Gilroy cannot pass it.
It is a greater shame that last year, and for many years in the past, thousands of students in this state received diplomas because they had accrued seat time and amassed credits and accumulated grades but had somehow, despite thirteen years of tax-financed public school education, missed being educated enough to read and understand passages from “The Call of the Wild.”
Students who cannot pass the CAHSEE should not be stigmatized. Some special education students will not be able to pass it, in spite of hard work and good attitudes.
The occasional student who drops out for three of her four high school years may indeed find herself too far behind to pass by age eighteen. Some students who have recently immigrated to the United States may not be able to pass it. That is reasonable. Who among us would be able to earn a Belgian or Korean diploma if we emigrated to those nations in our teens?
Who among us would expect to be handed a diploma if we could not read as well as a Belgian or Korean thirteen-year-old?
The students who do not pass should not be stigmatized. They should receive certificates of completion. They should be offered opportunities, reaching beyond their eighteenth birthdays, to pass the silly test and gain the parchment.
The Dispatch stories showcasing the efforts of five of the students who have yet to pass the CAHSEE demonstrate that certain people who are not motivated to learn for the sake of learning can be motivated to learn for the sake of a piece of paper.
It is entirely probable that some students will likewise learn for the sake of a gown, a hat, and a handshake. And motivating students to learn is a worthy endeavor.
Those who cannot pass it should not be stigmatized. But the diploma and the ceremony of receiving it should be earned.
A diploma should mean that one has mastered a demanding secondary school curriculum and is ready for the rigors of a four-year university or the responsibilities of the job-place. Passing the CAHSEE ensures neither of those. But it is a start.
