OK, I may be narrow minded, but this bothers me.  I overheard this today on The Commentators.

Here in Washington, like other states, we have the state standards of graduation.  One of those is the controversial WASL, which has been under a lot of heat for being an assessment test that assesses nothing.

According to the Seattle Times, there is a total failure rate of around 5-10 percent, so presumable those kids did not graduate, or rather they did not meet the requirements for graduation.

In some schools, notably Federal Way, many of those students were allowed to attend the graduation ceremony and walk with their class anyway.

In other words, they were presented as graduates, when in fact they had not graduated.

Is this kindness or fraud?

Grads: WASL daunted some, motivated others

Some school districts allowed some students to participate in graduation ceremonies even if they hadn't passed the WASL.

Seattle Public Schools, for example, let some in English-language programs participate, as long as they had enough credits and met other criteria.

Federal Way probably went the furthest. For those who hadn't yet met all requirements for a diploma, Federal Way principals let individual students and their families decide whether or not a senior would "walk" in graduation. That felt, they said, like the humane thing to do.

Lisa Griebel, principal at Federal Way High, thinks the WASL has helped raise standards and that the Class of 2008 is better prepared than any before it. Still, she didn't want to deny any student the chance to attend graduation if he or she was close. She didn't want students to feel like failures, she said, just because they need more time to finish.

At her school, she said, about half the families said no diploma, no ceremony. The other half chose to let students participate anyway.

So exactly what was the point?

This appears to be an attempt to help them feel good and look good in the face of their failures and avoid the label of failure.

In other words, walking graduation is an empty gesture.

Maybe it is a harmless gesture, a show of unity, but to me, I see this as a slap in the face of the kids who fulfilled their requirements, and in my case, i take it personally.

A lot of kids failed the WASL and had to sweat it out.  Some kids fall short of their credits, and had to bust their assess to finish and graduate.

Let's look at one kid in particular, a young lady who found she was short several credits…three classes to be exact.  She fully acknowledged that she needed to go an extra mile, or she would not graduate.   She signed up for extra course credit through BYU, so her final Semester, she was taking a full load at her school and was working on her correspondence courses at home at night.  She finished the courses 3 weeks prior to her deadline, and passed them.  As she had passed the WASL, that was not an issue.  But her course load was hard and she still had to struggle to pass all her classes.

And she did.

To her the graduation ceremony was not some feel good class spirit rally, it was her reward for busting her ass and graduating. 

At the graduation her Principal stood on the podium and said some profound words about the accomplishments of her class.  One that stood out were the acknowledgment that her class was the first to have to pass the WASL.  it was a prideful recitation of accomplishments.

It ended with her presentation of the class to the District Superintendent, and her certification that the students had successfully met the requirements of the State of Washington and were eligible to graduate.

The Superintendent accepted them and announced them as graduating seniors.  Then they walked and got their diploma's.

Those words are powerful.  Those words spoke to hard work and accomplishment.  They did not speak to close enough.  They did not speak to showing humanity to those students who didn't pass.  They did not speak to concern about them feeling bad for failing.

 It spoke to a celebration of accomplishment.   It speaks to recognition of success.

I'm sorry for those who did not fare as well, I really am.  But the girl in our story, my daughter, proved to me that there are kids who understand the real lesson:  Responsibility.  She could have shrugged and opted for the 5 year plan, or finished her last classes in summer school.

After all, the diploma is the prize right?

Sure, but the graduation ceremony is a prize too.

I guess what I am trying to say is that the graduation ceremony is something special, something with meaning. 

It is a culmination of 12 years of work.  It is a proud tradittion, a sharing of accomplishment with friends family and community.

It is a reward, and it is a privilege.  Kids who have otherwise passed have been suspended from graduation due to misconduct.  The ceremony is not something to be taken for granted any more than the diploma.

Except in Federal Way.