[HPFGU-OTChatter] What is a US style graduation?

[Jennifer Boggess Ramon]

At 9:11 PM +0000 7/9/02, alhewison wrote:
>
>Anyway, sorry for all that waffle, it's just made me wonder how the
>US system works.

I'm a high school teacher in Texas, and, unfortunately, there isn't 
so much a US system as there are 50 different state systems that bear 
a certain resemblance to each other.  What I will be describing is 
the Texas system, which is also pretty close to that I went through 
as a high school student in Mississippi and not too different from 
other state systems across the South; the California and
New York versions are slightly different from this and from each other.

>Are there a standard number of subjects that have to
>be passed?

More or less.  To earn a high school diploma, one must earn a certain 
number of credits; passing a semester-long class earns half a credit, 
and passing a year-long one earns a full credit.  The number of 
credits is one of the things which varies by state; in Texas, the 
minimum requirement is 22 credits, but 24 credits is strongly 
recommended.  In Mississippi at the time I graduated, I recall the 
requirement was only 20 credits (I believe it is more now).

Here's where things get goofy: the different states require different 
mandatory subjects to be among those credits.  Texas offers three 
different diplomas.  What is called the Minimum Plan diploma requires 
four credits in English, three in math including Algebra I, two in 
science, two and a half in history, one-half credit in economics, two 
credits in physical education including Health, half a credit in 
Speech Communications, and one credit an a technology-related course; 
the rest of the credits can be electives.  The Recommended Plan 
diploma, which a student must earn if s/he wishes to attend college, 
requires another credit each in science and history, two credits of a 
foreign language, one credit in the Fine Arts, and states that the 
three credits in mathematics must be Algebra I, Algebra II, and 
Geometry.  The Distinguished Plan diploma further requires a third 
year of a foreign language, either a fourth math credit and a fourth 
science credit or two and a half credits in career preparation 
courses (for example, an internship), and either a senior project or 
a high score on Advanced Placement tests.  The standards for any 
given state are likely to come close to matching either the Minimum 
or the Recommended diplomas, but are unlikely to match them exactly; 
for instance, when I was a student in Mississippi, the graduation 
plan was close to the current Texas Minimum Plan, but required only 
two mathematics courses, and Algebra was not required.

>Is the standard set across States or across the Country as
>a whole?

Across a given state, the standards are pretty much the same.  From 
state to state, they can vary quite a bit.

>can true comparisons be made from one school to another -
>for instance, With our A'Levels: the standard is arguably the same
>for whatever subjects you choose to take wherever you take them (In
>England & Wales).

The only usable comparisons between schools in different states are 
the national college-entry exams, like the SAT, ACT, or the Advanced 
Placement (AP) exams.  the first two are norm-referenced tests that 
are supposed to measure one's scholastic aptitude, rather than 
precisely what one has learned, so in some sense they're not a fair 
comparison; a magnet school for the academically gifted is likely to 
score higher than a "regular" school even if the quality of 
instruction is the same.  The AP exams, on the other hand, are 
content-referenced; they measure the student against a set of 
pre-listed criteria in a specific subject area, not against the 
scores of other students.  They're graded on a scale of one to five; 
one is not passing, two is borderline, three is a minimal pass, four 
is passing, and five is a high pass.  Students who score fours and 
fives (and, at some state colleges, threes) on AP exams are often 
given credit for the introductory-level course in that subject area. 
Most schools offer honors or other high-level courses for student who 
wish to take the AP exams; while a magnet school might have more 
students taking the exams, a class that makes fours and fives at any 
school is generally evidence of good instruction.

A US high school graduation is generally a lot like a college 
graduation, except the parents are less well-behaved - the students 
dress in rented robes and mortarboards (either black or in the school 
colors; the school I teach at uses blue ones), march in in line, sit 
in rows and listen to various speeches ranging from the platitudinal 
to the mildly inspiring (including ones from the student body 
president, the saludatorian (second best student in the graduating 
class), and the valedictorian (best student)), walk across the stage 
in alphabetical order, receive either their diploma or (more often) a 
diploma cover from the school's principal and the district's 
superintendent, and march back out.  The actual diplomas are usually 
mailed to the student a couple of weeks later.  Individual schools 
and districts can make the event quite fancy; in our district, and in 
the school I was graduated from, the teachers and principals wore 
their academic gowns and hoods as well, and an auditorium was rented 
for the occasion from a local college (in both cases the school's gym 
would have been too small).


>When I was growing up, Halloween
>was "celebrated" by eating toffee apples, having apple-dunking
>competitions and blindfold tasting tests. I don't remember any
>sinister links to satanism, but just a low key bit of fun.

The only "sinister links to Satanism" in Halloween celebrations are 
the ones paranoids put there.  What you describe is closer to the old 
Pagan celebrations than plastic masks, electric doorbells, and 
pre-wrapped candy are.  :)


-- 
  - Boggles, aka J. C. B. Ramon			boggles at earthlink.net
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