Graduation Statistics

I’ve said before that I wish there were national standards and that the education system in America was more streamlined and universal.  Well it looks like we might be taking the first baby steps in that direction.  This article talk about a possible new national mandate that would require specific graduation tracking processes.  This would primarily affect graduation statistics, however, once the states are able to compare themselves to one another more accurately I think they will want to be able to compare apples to apples.  Right now we are comparing apples to oranges and bananas and kiwi and grapes and mangos and who knows how many other kinds of fruit.  I really hope this process of comparing graduation statistics is the first step in making our country more competitive educationally.

What do you think about this proposal?  Do you agree with me that each state should have similar standards?  Do you think the government should get out of the education business altogether?