I have heard this statement repeated plenty of times, and have come to the conclusion that this statement is simply untrue.Josh wrote: If you are literate you can probably just ignore that qualification. An 8th grade church school education is equivalent to a high school education in many American school districts, or might even exceed one in underperforming school districts.
I’ve never had any employer ask to see my diploma much less high school transcript.
In my opinion, the education system within the ultra-conservative and intermediate-conservative schools seems to be sub-par to the public schools within my area. I attended and graduated from a public school within the past several years, and can attest that there are plenty of public high schools which hold much higher standards than the conservative Mennonite schools which I have familiarity. The diversity in subjects accompanied by teachers who have been educated in their respective subjects makes a world of difference when assessing the quality of education. Granted I grew up in a middle-class school district, not an inner-city district. I understand there is a drastic difference in resources available, but still contend that for the average American, a middle-class school district provides students with the opportunity for a fine educational base. Whether they take advantage of this opportunity or not is up to the individual. Just to clarify, I am not arguing that public high schools do a better job preparing students for job opportunities (for that is one area they could use improvement). I do believe that having a largely unspecialized set of teachers who happen to be a product of an environment which does not put proper emphasis on education is a significant drawback when comparing educational quality.