DM> MS>     North Carolina has had for at least 10 years a HS
  > MS> competency test required for graduation.  Do you think
  > MS> that means all North Carolina HS grads are
  > MS> functionally literate, able to do 7th-8th grade
DM>The subject was not North Carolina competency exams. I'll accept your
  >representation they don't work. The subject was a national
  >standard which might work, it might even force North
  >Carolina to administer an exam that did work.
I fail to understand why a National test would have a greater effect
than a state test.   A national test will have to go through the courts
for all the ethnic and social economic groups before being a standard.
That has a great deal to do with how we reached our current substandard
educational status.  In Arkansas a high school diploma means very little
as it can be obtained even by passing the GED exams.  The standards for
graduation are so low that you really must be trying not to pass to
fail, yet about 25 percent never graduate.  The education is available
but the student drive simply is not in place.  The lower standards have
always been met by opposition at the state level when local districts
have tried to raise standards.  National Exit exams and curriculums
sound good in theory but when reality comes into play the practicality
seems not to be in the making.
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