Posted on 06/03/2025 12:06:37 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Liberals in San Francisco, the epicenter of progressive ideology, just received a sharp and swift rebuke over their latest destructive education idea: “Grading for Equity.” The ferocity and tenor of the backlash – which came from both sides of the political aisle – is a revealing vignette into Democrat dysfunction.
The equity grading plan, quietly introduced by San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Maria Su late last month, sought to dismantle traditional academic grading in district high schools and replace it with a system designed not to reward effort and achievement but to conceal failure.
Specifically, schools would do away with homework and requirements on attendance, punctuality, and class participation. Instead, a single final exam, repeated as many times as needed, would be the sole determinant of a student’s grade. Under the new grading scale, an 80 percent would earn an “A.” Scores as low as 41 percent would be a “C,” while an abysmal 21 percent would be considered a passing “D.”
Perhaps even more shockingly, the massive overhaul was slipped into an agenda through bureaucratic camouflage and buried on the last page of a dense PowerPoint file. Despite representing a radical change to school policy, it was never disclosed in full to parents. The plan would have impacted approximately 10,000 students across 14 public high schools. Had one brave board member not flagged it, the district might have bulldozed it into classrooms without scrutiny and transparency.
Yes, the whole thing really is as crazy as it sounds. If it wasn’t happening in California, you’d think it was satire.
It is so crazy, in fact, that even the residents of one of the bluest cities in America couldn’t take it. From liberal teachers to union-friendly board members and progressive-voting parents, San Franciscans told their own party that enough was enough and voiced their frustrations at a recent school board meeting. Clearly recognizing the political momentum of the issue, elected Democrats began piling on as well.
“My immigrant dad asked me where the missing 10% went when I scored a 90. He came to America for the chance to work hard & pursue excellence,” Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna, whose district covers part of the Bay area, including Silicon Valley, posted on X. “Giving A’s for 80% & no homework is not equity—it betrays the American Dream and every parent who wants more for their kids.”
San Francisco’s Democrat Mayor Daniel Lurie jumped on the bandwagon as well. “We owe our young people an education that prepares them to succeed,” he said in a statement. “The proposed changes to grading at SFUSD would not accomplish that. I have conveyed our view to SFUSD. We are optimistic that there is a better path forward for our kids and their future.”
In response to the outrage, district officials pulled an immediate U-turn just one day after the program hit the headlines. “It’s clear there are a lot of questions, concerns, and misinformation with this proposal,” Su said in a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle.
However, the backlash made clear that there are actually strikingly few questions or “misinformation” about the proposal. San Franciscans understood exactly what Su was trying to do, and they loudly, wholeheartedly rejected it.
For Americans who don’t live in a far-left jurisdiction in California, this story may seem like nothing more than a local controversy. But it may well be just one small tremor in a brewing political earthquake, because it reveals something the Democrat Party can no longer ignore: Even their most loyal voters are losing patience with progressive overreach.
Progressive leaders claim they champion equity in education. But in reality, they lower the bar so far that achievement, excellence, and personal responsibility are framed as oppressive. They are pushing policies that assume children, especially minority or low-income children, aren’t capable of meeting high standards.
That’s not equity, it’s what past Republican leaders have warned to be the “soft bigotry of low expectations.” In their rush to engineer equal outcomes, Democrats are steamrolling the very principles that made this country exceptional. Parents, across the political spectrum, are done pretending otherwise.
Taxpayers in San Francisco have pumped hundreds of millions into school bonds and education funding in good faith. And what did they get? A school district that is more concerned with ridiculous left-wing fantasies about “grading equity” than classroom success and actually teaching students useful skills.
What happened in San Francisco is a lesson for the nation. Lowering expectations is not justice. It’s sabotage. When schools abandon discipline, effort, and accountability, they don’t help students. They trap them.
Democrats now face a reckoning. The swift about-face reveals a brewing rebellion among common-sense Democrats in the cities and a deepening panic within the party’s ranks that they’re no longer seen as the trusted stewards of America’s schools. If they continue down this road, pushing “equity” schemes that insult parents, ignore teachers, and damage kids, they will not only lose moderates. They will lose their own base.
W.J. Lee has served in the White House, NASA, on multiple political campaigns, and in nearly all levels of government. In his free time, he enjoys the “three R’s” – reading, running, and writing.
How low will the left go?
Why even bother to have school at this point????
America, take note. NEVER hire anyone who was educated in the San Francisco school district.
If it is a bridge too far, the left will take it. Bold and brave at times appear little different to the objective observer than just plain ignorant and stupid.
In my early years in the aerospace industry there were some that referred to this type of thing as “biffy” (BFFI} which is Brute Force and F’n Ignorance. Believe it or not there was some of this in the aerospace industry. Probably much of it at woke companies like Boeing.
How will they get into college. They going to lower the SAT score so that if you sell your name correctly you automatically get 1600 points?
California needs more baristas.
All of his questions were essay, with the legend being he thought up the five on the two flight of stairs from his office to the classroom. Adding to the difficulty, some questions required the opening of your answer to be, "based on the information you've given me, I cannot answer the question."
It was torture, trying to write 7-10 pages of your answers in 55 minutes. His teaching has stuck with me nearly 50 years, though...I graduated in 1976.
The ‘teachers’ will not have to teach and the administrators will have their stats saying everyone is doing better.
They still will say they are underpaid and need a big raise.
Commies do not want people who think for themselves.
They want the masses to be dependent on the gov’t.
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