One of the reasons for the paucity of posts as of late around here is a re-emphasis on hyper-local issues. None-the-less, even with that goal in mind, it is nearly impossible to escape larger education issues as they impact so greatly on our local property taxes.
We are as enamored of "local control" over primary and secondary education as anyone else, however, we must admit to having been given pause by the following posted by M. Antonucci over at eiaonline.com
By John Stallcup
From the early days of the United States, with minimum regulation, over 1,600 state-chartered, private banks issued paper money. These bank notes, with over 30,000 varieties of color and design, were easily counterfeited, causing widespread confusion and mistrust. With no common national currency there was no confidence in the value of any given dollar.
After nearly 100 years the anti-federal-control politicians finally threw in the towel. Teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and pressed to finance the Civil War, the 37th Congress authorized the U.S. Treasury to issue paper money and the U.S. finally got what it desperately needed: a common currency.
What makes any currency (or diploma) valuable? The perception and confidence in it based on the belief that its exchange value is at parity at the time of the exchange. Today, one $10 bill has the exchange value of any other $10 bill – not so for a high school diploma.
In the United States, the power to define what standards a student must meet or exit exam they must pass in order to receive a high school diploma has been the responsibility of the states. With few exceptions the states have failed miserably. Until we have specific national content standards and a national high school exit exam the high school diploma will continue to be a counterfeit currency and an outright shame.
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