A Tip of the Cap to Graduates

The high school years can be tough, with difficult courses and new classmates. But at least there’s some comfort in realizing that everyone is about the same age you are.

That wasn’t quite the case for the dozens who received high school equivalency diplomas this month at the Chapman-Hettinga Education Center in Garden Grove.

The evening graduation ceremony awarded diplomas to 65 adults. They deserve extra credit for persistence in following a tough path.

There can be any number of reasons for dropping out of school, ranging from illness to the need to take care of siblings to getting in trouble with the law.

Orange County’s Education Department runs continuation schools, which do a good job offering more individualized instruction to those who have had problems in regular classes. But not everyone can take advantage of that offering.

For many dropouts, the education they did not receive haunts them in later years. It can be an embarrassing lapse that must be noted on a job application. Or the lack can show up when everyone else catches a reference to a play or book that sails right past the dropout.

Garden Grove offers adults a traditional classroom setting or an independent study program, where students attend school for perhaps an hour a week to review assignments and receive lesson plans. The district also goes the extra mile by letting students remain in school for as long as it takes to complete the requirements for a diploma.

This year’s graduates at Chapman-Hettinga include a recovering alcoholic, two fortysomething sisters-in-law who went back to school together, and a Vietnamese recording artist who already has started college. One young woman talked her brother into returning to school and then was joined by her mother.

A number of the graduates said they dropped out after becoming pregnant. That unfortunately is a common reason for giving up academics, though some school districts make a special effort to help students-turned-parents by offering day care.

Whether the motivation is a better job or knowledge for its own sake, the renewed pursuit of education is worth a round of applause to go with the cap and gown.