Diplomas (ad nauseum)

In these dark days when courts insist on usurping the authority of the executive and the legislative branches, one court got it right, and they gave us some great quotes in the process. California's 1st District Court of Appeal, responding to lawyers who sought to force California to give diplomas to students who had not passed the high school exit exam said, "It would be a 'bitter hoax' to give diplomas to students who do not have basic academic skills. Worse, handing out diplomas to these students wrongly lets the state escape responsibility for actually educating them. . . The purpose of education is not to endow students with diplomas, but to equip them with substantive knowledge and skills they need to succeed in life. . . .

"A high school diploma is not an education, any more than a birth certificate is a baby."