RM> MS>If you want to cut down on ill-qualified graduates, 
RM> MS>raising the _state_ standards on that competency test 
RM> MS>would be a lot more cost-effective than requiring a 
RM> MS>federal competency test in addition to the state one.
RM> 
RM> So you have no problem with exit exams, but prefer local or
RM> state exams rather than national?  
    Yes.
    The educational needs (and realistic aspirations) of rural school systems 
in rural states may be very different than the educational needs and 
aspirations of say, Massachusetts.  
    Just as some car buyers just want a base Nissan Sentra to drive to work 
(and cannot afford more) while others want and can afford a Cadillac, many 
states are places where "career opportunities" demand little more than basic 
literacy and there is not enough population density to support schools with 
advanced physics.  It's just like Ross Perot's remark about Hillary's health 
plan that the ideal health plan for New York would not be that in Montana or 
vice versa.
    
RM> some uniformity myself, but I think we all recognize the
RM> difficulties involved in getting everyone to agree on what
RM> the exam should be
    Another argument for keeping standards/tests on a state level.
    Adopting standards at the state level or raising them could be done 
faster than in D.C., where constituencies are so much more varied from 
Montana to New York to the NAACP.
RM> the exam should be.  Also, there is the problem, recently
RM> discovered, of trying to safeguard an exam that is given 3
RM> hours earlier in the East than in the West.... 
    National exit exams or national tests for entry to academic high schools 
work a lot better in small countries with one time zone for that reason.
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