The Diploma

Episode aired Oct 4, 1979
TV-G
1h

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

114

YOUR RATING

Drama Family Romance

John has to prove he graduated from high school in order to continue getting contracts and security for government contracts. Mary Ellen becomes the nurse for the mountain folk when Nora is ... Read allJohn has to prove he graduated from high school in order to continue getting contracts and security for government contracts. Mary Ellen becomes the nurse for the mountain folk when Nora is called into the service.John has to prove he graduated from high school in order to continue getting contracts and security for government contracts. Mary Ellen becomes the nurse for the mountain folk when Nora is called into the service.

Director
- Gwen Arner
Writers
- Earl Hamner Jr.
- Kathleen Hite
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

114

YOUR RATING

Director
- Gwen Arner
Writers
- Earl Hamner Jr.
- Kathleen Hite
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos

User reviews3

7.0114

Featured reviews

2dalegore

Bogus

In season 4 episode 4 John Sr celebrates his 25th high school reunion with many friends. It would seem an easy task to prove his graduation. In fact his Army Induction papers from WWI would list his education. Premise doesn't pass the smell test.

SlimJim39

Totallly Ridiculous!

I don't know where the writers came up with this one, but it is totally ridiculous. There was never ANY requirement for any goverment contractor to be a High School Graduate, without a doubt one of the stupidest episodes of this series ever.

4max747-854-249240

Not as Bad as Others Say

Two earlier reviews panned this episode on the theory that either the Army wouldn't require a high school diploma or how he could have proved his education level. What they missed is the fact the Army accused him of making a false statement on an application, that was their primary concern. The only criticism I have for this episode is that the G2 lieutenant's performance was "a little over the top", other than that it's a typical Waltons episode.

Storyline

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Did you know

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Goofs
The fact that John Walton ended up getting his high school diploma later in his life should have had no effect on the fact that the charges brought by the army was that he falsified his application for being a government supplier, in which he said that he had already earned his high school diploma as a youth.

Quotes
Narrator: [narration as John 'John Boy' Walton, Jr. reading from his journal] The intermingling of what had gone before and what lay ahead was a never ending process that touched our lives on the mountain. My father was not a man to live in the past; he honored it, but it was his way to live the time at hand. One early morning in 1943 the present was awaiting my sister, Mary Ellen, and the past was ready to catch up with our father.