There are and will always be standards in place for high school graduation. In the March 1 Mailbag submission titled "School board vote sets bad example," Jennifer Keith writes about the value of passing the California High School Exit Exam, "If it is a requirement, then everyone should be held to the same standard and must pass to walk across the stage to receive a diploma." Yet in the prior paragraph she clearly understands that students who do not pass the exam are in fact not given the same privilege as those who do. They are not given a high school diploma, only a certificate of completion indicating they have successfully passed their classes but not the exit exam. Why should we additionally deny them the opportunity to celebrate their success? Isn't missing out on a high school diploma consequence enough?
When I attended the Burbank Unified School District Board of Education meeting, six people spoke against passing a proposed policy that prohibits students who do not pass the exam from walking at graduation. Seven more of us there understood that by passing such a policy it would target students with special needs, which is discriminatory and unfair. Not one person from the public came to support such a policy, not one.
