DOCUMENT: Crime

Can You Name The 53 States?

California seeks to stop sleazy high school diploma scam

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Can You Name The 53 States?

AUGUST 9--California officials are seeking to shutter a chain of private schools that peddles bogus high school diplomas to unwitting students--many of them Latino immigrants--who are taught that there are 53 U.S. states and an "administrative" branch of government. The California Alternative High School, which operated 30 schools statewide, charged students $1450 for a 10-week course based on a bizarre 54-page workbook that apparently was authored by Ali G. State investigators last week seized the school's assets and asked a Superior Court judge to close down the sleazy outfit. Below you will find excerpts from the school's workbook, which included questions about Arthur Miller's "Death of a Traveling Salesman," the study of "Matemathics," and the philosopher "Aristotale." (11 pages)