Modified diplomas

Four Portland high schools were caught giving modified diplomas to students. Modified diplomas are diplomas that lack the weight of regular diplomas, which seriously hinders a graduate’s future.

With a modified diploma you are not eligible for federal aid, are unable to go to most universities and cannot even join the Army. In all, a modified degree is slightly worse than a G.E.D. And this is not the fault of the high schools’ administration. The fault is yours and mine. This is a local phenomenon, not a statewide issue.

Our society functions in such a way that each citizen has a say in the value of public education. How can it allow for an education that simply throws kids under the bus in such a way that they cannot even hope to roll out of the way in time? Seriously, how are the graduates who received the modified diplomas going to get a successful career in these stagnant times if the diploma isn’t even worth letting the student join the Army?

Modified diplomas are designed for students who have demonstrated an inability to obtain a diploma without special accommodations or special courses. Madison, Roosevelt, Jefferson and Marshall high schools have been giving modified diplomas to students who have not shown an inability obtain one. And, quite frankly, these schools that are under budgeted and overdrawn just want to get these students out of the way.

One can’t really blame them. With graduation rates as low as they are—58 percent for some of these schools—I would want to do everything in my power to fix those numbers if I were in their shoes. These Portland schools have the highest poverty and highest dropout rates in the area. And they have used these modified diplomas as a way to raise those ratings.

But is that really what is best for these students? Is it really better to give them a modified diploma as opposed to making them come back for a fifth year? I don’t think so. A modified diploma is worse than no diploma for the simple fact that it’s the end of the line.

There is not an option to go back and get a regular diploma. For the most part, these students are stuck. Their future is set in stone and they will likely end up working at McDonalds or another place where their best option is to simply hang onto that job and see how much they may be able to move up.

That is not why we have an education system. We have a system so that people can look to the future and think it will be better than today. Giving modified diplomas to kids is a disservice to them. If a student has decided that he or she will not do what it takes and try to graduate, then fine, let him or her not graduate. Don’t give him or her the same diploma that the system gives to students who are mentally or physically incapable of graduating.

These students are capable of graduating and essentially are choosing not to. It shouldn’t be acceptable. Just as it shouldn’t be acceptable in society, it probably isn’t acceptable to the students who have received these diplomas years after it’s too late for them to change and they are simply stuck in the place—with few options—when they first received the diploma.