High School Graduates

from Newport Patch this morning:

More than 60 percent of all students entering the California State University system are not ready for college-level English and math, according to recently released (Early Assessment) test results. Of the 40,000 first-time college freshmen that enter into the CSU system each year, 25,000 need to take remedial classes.

Makes me wonder how these students graduated high school? Why not issue Certificate of Completion instead of a Diploma? Could that serve as a wakeup call to these families, if more schools differentiated between completing 4 years versus mastering subjects? Would the evening topics (during commercial breaks) be more focused on graduating rather than completing 4 years?