What should the high school diploma mean?

For those of you who don't know, I am currently enrolled in a PhD program at the University of Kentucky (go cats)! For one of my courses, we were tasked to dream about what the high school diploma should mean. I wanted to share some of my thoughts with you here through an Appalachian contextualized lense.

This is a very difficult question to answer since each district can change the qualifications for a diploma in their district (as long as it sticks to the state minimums). However, when I close my eyes and dream about Appalachia and what it will take for our students to lead the greatest economic turnaround ever a few things stick out to me:

- there must be a clear focus on STEM. When our students graduates high school they should be fluent in coding and the language of computers (I am not)! Some of our biggest bets as a region revolve around making eastern Kentucky a hub for tech startups dubbed silicon hollers. If this is to be true, our students must leave high school with the skills to enter the tech startup world prepared.

- there has to be a focus on interpersonal and intercultural awareness. We know jobs of the future are going to require constantly working across lines of difference (in geography, in beliefs, etc.). Having a high school diploma should mean a student has the basic skills of collaboration, knowing who they are, and recognizing that because others are different doesn't mean anything about their abilities to do great work.

- there has to be a minimum benchmark for the academic knowledge students possess. For instance, do they have the arithmatic and reading skills necessary for the world they're entering? A high school diploma must mean a student can analyze complex texts and figure out real world problems that involve math. A high school diploma should also mean students can express themselves clearly in both verbal and written communication.

- there has to be a focus on failure through the lens of growth mindset. When students graduate high school they should have experienced challenge and failure. At the same time, they should have developed the skills to navigate failure and challenge knowing that the failure they had won't be repeated with the new knowledge they gained. In a world where our jobs are yet to be envisioned in Appalachia, there's going to be a lot of challenge and failure and our students MUST be able to navigate that space appropriately.

Those are just a few thoughts on what I think a high school diploma should mean. What do you think?