It seems as though we made it through graduation weekend without a major incident, other than the usual cat-calls from the crowd and jubilant graduates breakdancing across the stage after receiving their diploma covers.

Those who had failed to pass all parts of the Georgia High School Graduation Test (GHSGT) apparently decided to wait until they actually graduated before unveiling their caps and gowns. Last week I used this space to say that doing anything other than that would seem silly. I also indicated that I agreed with the fact that the local board of education had made a tough decision and had no intention of backing down from the call to not allow GHSGT failures to participate in the graduation ceremonies.

Now what I wish would happen next is for local boards of education across the state to band together and get rid of the GHSGT. While I agree that anyone who graduates should be forced to meet all of the state mandated requirements, I don’t think the GHSGT should be one of those requirements. I’m just not sure what purpose the GHSGT serves.

Let’s think about it for a minute. A student meets all of the requirements of a particular course and therefore receives a passing grade. When did that cease to be enough?

Some have said that making a student pass a comprehensive final over an entire subject (like history or science) prohibits social promotion. That’s a bunch of garbage. If a student passes the class, then the promotion has been earned.

They call this test the Georgia High School Graduation Test, yet students begin taking the test more than a full year before they even mail out graduation invitations. How can it be determined that you are ready for graduation midway through your junior year? Of course, as has been pointed out recently, some students need a full year and a half to pass all parts of the test.

Now they’re talking about instituting end of course tests, which I don’t think is a bad idea. But these tests need to be created by individual teachers and not by some testing company whose intention is to get fatter on our failures.

Back to my original question. When did this become necessary? I didn’t have to take a special graduation test. Neither did several board of education members that I talked to. They seem to be doing pretty well with what they learned.

Some local high schools go so far as to shut down operations for a couple of days in order to review for the GHSGT, that’s how desperate they are for the students to pass. So while that’s happening, regular classroom instruction is being compromised.

Let the teachers teach and then let the teachers test. Keep the testing companies out of it.