Would you board an airplane knowing the pilot flunked his licensing exam? Would you go under the knife of a surgeon who couldn’t pass the state medical boards? Would you buy tires from a company that regularly produced 25% defective products?

No.

Would you pay for a school system that can’t educate kids? You have no choice. It’s the government, Jake. Consider this:

The number of California high school dropouts spiked in 2006, the first year seniors were required to pass the state’s exit exam to graduate, according to a report presented Wednesday to the state Board of Education.

California’s high school graduation rate also fell by about 4 percent from the previous year.

The analysis found that 24,000 high school seniors dropped out in 2006, about 10,000 more than four years earlier.

The information could give ammunition to lawmakers and others who have criticized the exam, as well as those who have lobbied for alternative assessments.

Kids are ignorant, making us look bad? Fudge the test.

The report’s findings validate the position of exit exam opponents who say the test is hardest on students who do not have access to good schools or good teachers, said Liz Guillen, director of legislative and community affairs for Public Advocates. That applies mostly to poor and minority students, she said.

Why aren’t the schools good? They spend an average of $6,857 per student each year.

The San Francisco-based law firm has sued the state over the exam and sought alternatives.

How about breaking the government monopoly on public education? Nothing focusses the mind better than existential competition.

“As a moral and constitutional matter, before every student can be required to pass the state’s new hurdle, the state and its schools must first ensure that … all of those students have had an opportunity to learn what is tested,” she told the board.