The education business, as opposed to what goes on in the classrooms of the thousands of dedicated teachers in California, lurches from trend to trend, depending on the latest sales pitch sold by the growing number of education consultants to their political enablers in the Legislature.

Not too long ago, the Golden State's public schools were being reformed because they were failing. And then they needed accountability because they were failing. And, of course, it costs a lot of money to be reformed and to be held accountable, so millions of tax dollars went for new materials and books and for training these new teaching methods devised by the experts, who were actually private contractors selling their products.

Sure it's expensive, but the argument was that the taxpayers deserve to know their schools are being held accountable, and that will lead to better results in the classroom.

A high school exit exam would be required to ensure that a diploma meant something. Oh, wait, the exit exam has been delayed until 2006. But the students will still be held accountable and the delay is no big deal.

Students will still have to pass algebra to get a diploma. Whoops.

There's a tiny bit of a problem with that condition, too. Just the other day 200 California school districts got waivers from the requirement because too many students didn't pass algebra.

But the state isn't kidding, honest. There's going to be accountability in California's newly reformed schools. We're just not sure when these requirements will actually be instituted.

In the meantime, thousands of students are about to get diplomas in California even though they can't read, write or do math at a high school level.

No wonder so many students don't take their educations seriously in California, a state that talks tough about standards, but always seems to give in when it's time to enforce basic requirements.

From establishing dress codes that aren't enforced to requiring exit exams that aren't actually requirements, our schools tell students daily that there may be rules, but they don't mean anything. And then administrators and teachers complain about a lack of discipline in classrooms. They're teaching, but the lessons are that it's okay to blow off the rules because someone will bail you out.

Don't get me started about the high schools that allow students to eat in class, and even have teachers who sell them snack foods in the first few minutes of class. Then there are the high school principals who spend the year trying to figure out how to stop students from engaging in simulated sex at school dances.

So we shouldn't be surprised that students won't complete the work that we say is required to get a diploma. They know that it will all work out. They'll get their diplomas, as devalued as those pieces of paper may be. So don't sweat the small stuff, which in this case is actually earning an education.

The latest school dodge has gotten state Sen. Chuck Poochigian a bit irked. He authored the bill four years ago that made passing algebra a requirement for getting a diploma. But the state Board of Education stepped in last week and gave waivers that allowed 13,000 California high school students to get their diplomas even though they blew off algebra.

"We set a horrible precedent by taking the low road every time a deadline for higher achievement arrives," The Fresno Republican wrote recently. "It's pointless to set standards if they're not going to be implemented and enforced at the local level."

Poochigian pointed out that in 2002, almost 40 percent of California State University freshmen had to take remedial math courses that included algebra.

The state is wasting a lot of money by having the colleges do the work that the high schools should have done.

Poochigian said a study in 2000 showed that algebra would be useful for all students, not simply those planning to go on to college.

"I'm not hostile to public education and I'm committed to helping make improvements," Poochigian said. "But it's frustrating when they take a dive on something like this and give waivers."

As the senator knows, this is more about the politics of education than it is about what's good for students. If 13,000 students didn't get their diplomas, they would howl, their parents would threaten to sue and high school principals would be running for cover.

Who cares if the diplomas don't mean much? Accountability in California schools is about making everyone happy, not ensuring educational success.