We don't need no education

We just want our graduation

On Thursday, October 19, 2023, the Oregon state Board of Education decided to continue a suspension of standards for graduating high school that was begun in 2020. During this pause, students do not need to prove mastery of basic math and writing skills in order to graduate. Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but I was always under the impression that the entire purpose of school was to provide kids an education that included reading, writing, and arithmetic so they could be prepared to either attend an institute of higher learning or to enter the workforce as a productive member of society. If students do not possess basic mathematical and grammatical understanding by the time they reach twelfth grade, then what have they been doing in school for the other eleven years?

According to Merriam-Webster, to “graduate” means “to pass from one stage of experience, proficiency, or prestige to a usually higher one.” So, where is the experience? Why should a measure of proficiency not be required? How do you pass from one level to another without meeting some standard of achievement? Well, according to the school board, such requirements constitute an obstacle that inequitably impacts traditionally marginalized minorities. It seems the school board is more interested in propaganda than pedagogy. It’s more important that attendees know their CRTs and LGBTs than their ABCs and 123s. Maybe I’m missing something, but, to employ an already overused slander, that sounds kind of…ummmm….racist? Is the school board really saying they don’t think minorities are smart enough to learn literature and common calculations? Or maybe they prefer to have minorities uneducated. Maybe they figure without a proper education or vocational training, they can keep minorities dependent upon government, so they’re creating a perpetual voting base. Perhaps the Board of Education believes minorities will only be useful idiots if they remain actual idiots. However you slice it, it seems none of this is actually for the benefit of those whose cause they claim to champion.

I’ll be the first to tell you that, while standardized tests can serve a purpose, many intelligent people don’t do well with exams, despite their intellectual prowess. The real issue here, though it is framed as one around examinations, is deeper and more pervasive (on a national level) than failed finals and state tests. This is a question of the efficacy of the educational system as a whole. There was a time when a minimum measure was required to move from one grade to another, when a bar was set for student success. If a child could not rise to the challenge, that child was required to repeat the grade before moving on. By the dictionary definition of “graduate,” this makes sense. In order to move to a higher level of “proficiency,” one must exhibit mastery at the current level. This is not “inequitable” - it is logical.

Setting aside obvious issues with the U.S. Department of Education (where in the Constitution is the federal government tasked with teaching?), the NEA, and local teachers’ unions, one of the most insidious instigators of problems we now see in public schools was the “No Child Left Behind Act,” signed into law in 2002 by President George W. Bush. Under the facade of fairness, this act led to a decline in development of young minds. Instead of aiding adolescents in their learning, Bush’s bumble enabled educational incompetency and the progression of poorly-prepared pupils to higher grades where they find themselves facing insurmountable hurdles. Is it any wonder that literacy rates have dropped? When you lower the bar for all students, all students suffer. More advanced students are insufficiently challenged to develop their potential, and students of lesser intelligence (of all persuasions) are advanced despite their inabilities. It is a losing proposition for everyone. Better to set the bar high and make every effort to help each child attain it.

Of course, such senselessness should come as no surprise when viewed in light of so many in government who have made careers of failing upward. When those who hold the reins of the school system themselves have consistently flunked their way into ever higher positions, why would they not see success as a stumbling block? Why let a lack of achievement or merit stand in the way of doling out diplomas? Expecting excellence from our children is to be eschewed. Only then can we achieve equity in education, an equally lackluster level of competence across the board.

I would chastise school boards alone for this inanity, but those who elect the officials are equally at fault. If parents opt for their offsprings’ instruction to be dictated by such disastrous dullards and dimwits, then they must also bear the burden of blame. People not infected by the current prevailing insanity need to reclaim these institutions. Better yet, government needs to be removed altogether from school superintendence and leave it in the hands of local communities as was done so many years ago. Perhaps then pupils can again learn to think critically and excel at academics rather than being propagandized and promoted prematurely.