Diplomas for students from high schools and colleges have very different value. On the other hand online certification, like Adobe tests for professional proficiency, has equal value among all who are certified.
The value to the student who earns the first two of these diplomas is woefully different. All the Adobe certificates are equal in value:
- Jefferson High School in Alexandria, Virginia was named by Newsweek as the No. 1 best public high school in the USA for 2010.
- Columbus High School in Bronx, New York is on the New York City Board of Education’s schedule to be closed because of a “long history of sustained academic failure.”
- Adobe Certification for a professional proficiency is a student’s proof of having qualified in a test online given equally to all comers from any place and any background.
Think about it: If high school diplomas were awarded after online testing that is open to all, a Columbus High School student in the Bronx would have a chance to prove her intellectual and knowledge equality to the Jefferson High School students in Alexandria. There is an echo of equality in the notion of standardized tests given at schools — but this echo does not affect the value of a diploma handed to a Columbus High School graduate.
The way public schools award diplomas based upon their own students instead of equal knowledge testing is not fair. It perpetuates an underclass.
