If an employment application has a box for putting in the date of your high school graduation?

is it in violation of the law? Or is its presence on a form not considered the same as asking in an interview.

Also there are often several forms that are passed out with the app form that require you to give your birthdate. It is supposed to be illegal for a prospective employer to ask your age, but it looks like there are just too many ways to bypass this restriction.

Unfortunately, employers do NOT have every legal right to set whatever standard they want for the job, especially age.

Standards for job requirements are called Bona Fida Occupational Qualifications or BFOQ. You can't ask for a college degree for a janitor and you can't require someone be a certain age "just because" you think they should be say 25 to do X, Y, Z.

That being said, there is no law regarding age discrimination for being too "young" - it only applies to people over the age of 40.

As to the actual question regarding why it is being asked and how it should be asked. No, it should not be on an application, in any form. The question should be did you graduate HS or receive a HS Diploma (or GED)? Yes or No, or be a fill in field for you to list education, but the only times dates should be asked are on post high school education for verification of transcripts, etc...

When employers DO have certain age limits, i.e. are you over 18 (because our job is very physical or requires long hours and we don't want to violate child labor laws) or are you over age 21 because this is a DOT environment (driving job) or you need a liquor license to bartend, etc... are all appropriate ways of asking. You do not ask the actual age, see the drivers license, etc...

"How old are you vs. are you older than age 18 or 21"

There are, however, background check forms (which should be separate from the application) that legally can and do ask your age. Employer's are required to keep these forms separate from the application (once submitted) and if the person is hired, kept in a separate file. They have to have your DOB to verify criminal history, social security, etc...

It is typical for the service industry to use applications like that in order to verify that an applicant is old enough to legally work or that they have graduated high school, or to verify an applicant is 18 yrs old. For other types of jobs, they can typically figure out your age just by looking at your resume- types of jobs, length of employment etc. You're right, there are lots of ways to by-pass the restriction.

I think you are confusing "asking" your age, compared to discriminating because of your age.
Employers have every legal right to set minimum standards for any job.. ie old enough to work, having a high school or college degree, etc.
Any job is an position that the employer wants to fill, and choose who is qualified for the job.