As much as I loathe standardized testing, I have to admit that I'm relieved by the California State Supreme Court's decision to reinstate the high school exit exam. For those of you who may not have heard, yesterday the high court suspended an Alameda County Superior Court Judge's prior ruling which prohibited schools from withholding diplomas of students that failed the exit exam. I'm saddened to think that the 46,000 high school seniors who haven't passed the test yet won't be donning caps and gowns with their classmates next month; however, I'm frightened that this signifies that 46,000 students from the class of '06 can't do 8th grade math or read at a 10th grade level. How can we, as educators and as citizens, send someone to college or into the workplace without these basic skills? What value does a diploma have if it doesn't represent any actual learning?

Critics of the exit exam have pointed out that underpriveleged and minority students are disporportionately affected by it. I whole-heartedly agree that this represents a social problem that needs to be dealt with, but I don't think dismissing the test is the answer. There are reasons that these kids aren't passing - lack of proficiency with the English language, underfunded schools, problems at home - we ought to get to the root of the problem and fight for more and better ESL programs, more money for education and more support services for at-risk students. We need to stop fighting the test and starting fighting for the poor and minority students it hurts.