THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 4, 1996 TAG: 9603010001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
Norfolk's public schools boldly embraced tougher educational standards last week when the School Board voted to scrap the undistinguished general diploma which about 50 percent of its graduates earn every year.
Beginning in the year 2000, a diploma from Norfolk's public high schools will mean something. It will mean that the recipient has completed a rigorous course of studies and is academically ready to leave the protected environment of high school to enter the world - either for college, technical training or the work force.
Norfolk is the first city in the state to abandon the general diploma, and other Hampton Roads school systems would be wise to follow Norfolk's lead. State legislators, who have toyed with the notion of eliminating the general education diploma, might look at Norfolk's preemptive move and take action themselves and make the commonwealth general diploma-free.
Year in and year out about half of Norfolk's high-school graduates leave school with a general diploma, meaning they completed a mere 22 credits during their four years of high school. Of those credits only three had to be in math, two in science and four in English. Two credits could be in physical education and three in social studies. The others could come from an array of easy electives. In other words, a general diploma meant a student attended school the requisite number of days and passed the easiest courses offered.
Under the new requirements, all Norfolk high-school graduates will have passed at least an algebra course.
While naysayers predict that Norfolk's drop-out rates will soar with the abolition of the general diploma, several enthusiastic educators insist that the support will be there to ensure that all motivated students get the help they need to meet the tougher qualifications.
``Students do what is demanded of them,'' says Dr. Pamela Kloeppel, head of Norfolk's guidance departments and a booster of academic excellence. ``You can look at the general diploma and see that not much was required of these students.''
Eighth-grade students and their parents are now being briefed by school administrators about how to prepare for the new requirements. These students - members of the Class of 2000 - will be the first to graduate without being able to collect a general diploma. by CNB