A Warranty for Graduates?

The Los Angeles school district plans to provide a written warranty with high school diplomas to guarantee that graduates will measure up in the work force. But doesn’t every diploma already come with that implied guarantee?

The specifics of the plan--reported to be the first of its type in the nation--have not been worked out, but the warranty would allow graduates who fail to perform adequately on the job to return to school for additional training at no cost to the employer.

Supt. William Anton outlined the plan, at a Workforce L. A. luncheon with business, education, labor and government leaders--many of whom are employers of district graduates. Many area employers have complained about graduates who have not mastered the skills required for entry-level jobs and about the amount of money they as employers must spend on training.

Anton’s plan, which would take effect with the Class of 1994, doesn’t hold up under scrutiny, though it sounds good. The warranty would signify that a student had mastered basic reading, writing, mathematics, speaking and listening skills. It would also mean that a graduate had demonstrated ability to solve problems, make decisions, think creatively, continue learning and to reason.

Students would be required to demonstrate achievement of five goals identified by a federal Labor Department commission. Those goals are managing resources, developing interpersonal skills, acquiring information, understanding organizational and other systems and learning how to use technology.

All of those skills are admirable ones; they are also skills that any high school graduate with a diploma worth anything should already have. The real question is not how to offer a warranty but why an L.A. Unified School District graduate should need one.

Anton has not yet determined what changes would be needed in the district’s curriculum, faculty or resources to ensure the warranty. Nor has he determined how the beleaguered district could afford to make major changes at a time of budget cuts so deep that the school board has ordered all employees to take a 3% pay cut.

Anton is right to address the growing lack of confidence in the public schools, but making the public high school diploma mean something is the real task at hand.