The Nonequivalence of High School Equivalents
分析通过考试获得高中同等学历的人数增长的原因和后果，发现这些人与高中辍学生无显著差异，其价值仅在于打开高等教育机会，但完成率远低于普通毕业生。
This article analyzes the causes and consequences of the growing proportion of high-school-certified persons who achieve that status by exam certification rather than through high school graduation. Exam-certified high school equivalents are statistically indistinguishable from high school dropouts. Whatever differences are found among exam-certified equivalents, high school dropouts and high school graduates are accounted for by their years of schooling completed. There is no cheap substitute for schooling. The only payoff to exam certification arises from its value in opening postsecondary schooling and training opportunities, but completion rates for exam-certified graduates are much lower in these activities than they are for ordinary graduates. Copyright 1993 by University of Chicago Press.