REASON #8,395

Yet again the bar is lowered on the education of our children.  In Washington state, the school superintendent is trying to delay the proficiency requirements for graduating students in science, reading and math.  Since there are so many students who are apparently not meeting the criteria to graduate, he has decided the only option is to lower the bar and graduate them anyway.

Thankfully there are many influential people, from business leaders to politicians to billionaires, who are rejecting this scheme. 

According to Fox News, the superintendent, Randy Dorn, has said that the state "has a trainwreck coming down the pike".  There are 40,000 kids in the state who cannot pass the math and science proficiency exit exams required to graduate.  He also feels that most of those children don't need to be proficient in algebra, trigonometry or calculus.

Interesting theory, considering Washington state is the home of Microsoft.  Bill Gates is on record saying he opposes this plan, citing having to go to India and Pakistan for employees who are computer savvy. 

In this technological day and age, we need more students excelling in math, science and reading, not less.

Perhaps if our schools were not held hostage by unions who make it impossible to fire bad teachers to make way for good, there would be better test results.  Dorn says that there needs to be more than just a 'one size fits all' approach to education, and that many students are falling through the cracks. Interestingly enough, though, students in Washington DC, one of the most liberal progressive districts in the country with one of the worst track records for graduation, when offered a chance to go to private schools who do not cater to their minority status, excelled beyond all expectation. 

And what has happened to those kids?  Most of them not only graduated, but an absolutely staggering majority of them (as compared to their peers in public school) went on to college.  Unfortunately, the unions have put the kibosh on this program and it has been shut down.

I guess this is reason #8,395 for home schooling.

REASON #8,395