Is this Person Really Trying to Sue His High School published jun

I used to blog for my old company, but they took the blog down. I am
not actually allowed to own the writings I put up on that blog, but as
I reference them on occasion in my writing I am putting those articles
up in my archives here for reference sake. I'll put the tag GS on those
articles noting that they were originally published on the http://schoolfinder.globalscholar.com/blog/

Is this Person Really Trying to Sue His High School

June 27, 2008 – 11:06 am by Brendan

It has been a busy week for me. I have been hired full time at GlobalScholar, before this I was a consultant. The day before my actual hire date I flew to HQ in Seattle to fill out paperwork and start learning about the GlobalScholar systems that I am not familiar with yet. So I apologize for missing a few days on my blog here, but I have been just too busy to get any writing finished. With that out of the way let’s get on to the first story as an official GlobalScholar employee.

Here I find on a web site HelpMeSue.com a former Georgia student trying to sue his high school because they gave him a diploma he doesn’t think he deserves. Granted he failed or skipped several tests, but judging by the eloquence of his writing it doesn’t look like he should fail high school. At least one of the comments suggests that some people might be posting questions on the site just to get attention. This may be what the student is dong. On the other hand he may actually think this is a legitimate question.

If however the situation is real and the person did actually fail or skip some tests I don’t think it is means that he did not deserve a diploma. The truth is actually passing or failing classes does not have to be the criteria for receiving a diploma. In many states students who have successfully passed all of the required high school classes still have to pass a graduation test. So should a student who has passed all of his or her high school classes be able to sue the school if he or she fails to pass the graduation exam?

No! Students do need to take some responsibility for their own education. Yes, I know that most people graduate from high school at age 18, meaning they aren’t legally adults until sometime around graduation. Being younger than 18 doesn’t mean they can’t start taking responsibility for their own actions it just means they cannot be legally bound to a contract.

Usually, around the age of 12 is considered the age of reason, or generally when students can and should be expected to start thinking abstractly. This is why subjects like Algebra are not considered part of the curriculum before 8th or 9th grade, most students just don’t have the ability to think about or really understand such abstract concepts.

By the time a student gets to high school their brains should be developed enough that they can think and understand what will happen if they choose to do or not to do something. Students should be able to understand the consequences of their actions, not just in right or wrong, but in moral or immoral as they understand it. I don’t mean to say we don’t continue to develop this sense of right and wrong as we grow and mature. What I am saying is that by 17 or 18 we should have a sense of what good and bad consequences might come from a decision to skip or intentionally fail at test.