doesn’t mean you can read, write, or do 8th grade mathematics. At least that’s what one company in Gloucester, MA has found, according to this article at Casting Out Nines.

And the questions really are middle school level. (Sometimes I see questions that are supposed to be “seventh grade” and I can answer most of them, but not all. And my math is better than any 7th grade book I’ve ever seen. So I wonder.)

Fascinating. And depressing.

My HS Diploma actually did mean I could read, write, and do 8th grade mathematics. So whose diplomas aren’t worth anything? Well, apparently Gloucester’s high school. I can’t imagine there are tons of people from around the nation applying for these jobs.

But I still find it depressing.

I remember in Louisiana, back in the early 80s, when the law was (could still be for all I know) that if you graduated from a public high school you were automatically admitted to a public college. There were thousands of freshmen who didn’t know the difference between “meat” and “meet,” like my college roommate. The freshmen classes were huge because the teachers failed out 3/4s of the students in the first month. The kids didn’t know they didn’t know enough to be in college.

Why do we have high schools like this? That’s what I really don’t know.