Lunacy in Our School Districts

RealClear Politics ^ | 02/19/06 | Ruben Navarrette Jr.

[peyton randolph]

SAN DIEGO -- Sometimes when I see what my fellow Latinos are up to in the area of education reform -- such as fighting for school vouchers, organizing immigrant parents in makeshift PTAs, or trying to pull their kids out of bilingual education classes -- I want to stand and applaud.

Then there are the times when parents or their advocates pursue such dumb courses of action that they hurt the very kids they're trying to help. That's when I shake my head in disbelief.

One of the latest to travel down this dead-end road is Arturo Gonzalez, a San Francisco attorney who recently filed a lawsuit, on behalf of 10 high school students and their parents, challenging a controversial ``exit exam'' that California public high school students must pass in order to get a diploma. The test includes a section of eighth-grade-level math and another section of ninth- and 10th-grade-level English. Students can take the test multiple times, and they only have to give correct answers to little more than half of the questions.

Gonzalez insists that the pass-to-graduate requirement is illegal and discriminatory because poor, minority students with limited English proficiency have not been prepared for the exam. A couple of years ago, his firm won a class-action suit accusing the state of denying poor children adequate school resources. California agreed to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into teacher training, textbooks and facility improvements. But the settlement was reached in 2004 and so, Gonzalez says, high school seniors haven't had ``a fair and equal opportunity to learn the material on this test.''

The lawsuit seeks an injunction to immediately suspend the mandatory requirement that students pass the test.

In non-lawyer talk, this means Gonzalez must believe that students should be able to fail the exit exam and still graduate from high school. His clients feel the same way. One mother, whose son has repeatedly failed the math portion of the test, told reporters that the message behind the exit exam is ``go to school for four years, work hard, stay out of trouble, get passing grades, but, by the way, if you don't pass, all your efforts stood for nothing.'' The mother called that ``criminal.''

When I hear something like that, it makes me think that people ought to pass a whole battery of exams before becoming a parent. What a terrible message that sort of attitude sends to the child -- if you don't pass your tests, don't worry. Mommy will hire a lawyer and make it all better.

Why stop here? Why not do away with tests all together? We should go into individual classrooms and throw out chemistry tests, algebra tests and, of course, those dreaded English tests. I mean, it's just not fair, the argument would follow, that a student could show up to class every day and work hard and then have his grade boil down to his performance on a single exam.

If Gonzalez gets the injunction, it would allow those California high school students who have not passed the test to graduate this year. One study estimated that as many as 100,000 12th-graders -- about one out of five in the state -- had not yet passed at least one section of the test.

You see the problem. What we should be worried about isn't the test but what the test is revealing, namely that our public schools are failing to provide many of our kids with even basic academic skills. Now that's criminal.

This isn't just another nutty California adventure. Other states -- about two dozen of them -- also require that high school students pass exit exams in order to graduate. And in those states, you'll no doubt find lawyers and spineless parents eager to make life cushy for their kids.

So you better watch out. This brand of lunacy could be coming to a school district near you.

[GianniV]

Just watch John Stossel's 'Stupid in America' story on "20/20." Go to the "20/20" web site to find out more. He lays it all out as to why our public schools stink (hint - think communist teachers unions).

[peyton randolph]

Thanks. Stossel is one of my favorite MSM journalists. Surprised he stays. They must have a quota program for libertarians. ;-)

[GovernmentShrinker]

As long as they allow student who are really trying, and not incurring disciplinary infractions, to stay in school for an additional year or two until they're able to pass, this sound like a great law.

[I still care]

The only problem I have is that certain kids, no matter how brilliant, may have true learning disabilities. I have one running in my family that a lot of the men cannot spell.

One member of my family got a perfect 800 on the math sat, and graduated years later from a top college. He still can't spell a simple word like orange or yellow. They had to make an exception to read him his english exam, so he could pass it.

[SuziQ]

A lot of people complain about these tests that are required for one to graduate from high school, but it also seems like those same people are the ones complaining that kids are graduating nowadays 'uneducated'. Which do they want? Do they want kids who keep getting passed upward, but who cannot read, write or do basic math, or do they want some assurances that the kids who are given a diploma granted under the auspices of the state have a least a minimal education?

As this story states, you don't have to make 100% on this test, you barely have to clear 50%. In any classroom in America, even 60% is an "F"! Many folks complain that the teachers spend time 'teaching to the test', but if the test is covering basic skills and some extra stuff, shouldn't the teacher be covering that anyway?

I don't have a dog in this fight, because we homeschooled our daughter, who is a Senior this year, and our youngest son will be coming back home from private school to finish out his last two years of high school, so neither of them had to take the test. But seeing as how they are making "A's" and "B's" in their Honors and Community college classes, they'd pass any test the state could give them. I just think there is much ado about nothing with regard to these tests. I don't believe they are infringement of any student's rights, they are a measurement tool, as most tests are, it's just that these carry a lot more weight.

[goldstategop]

Just close the schools. After all, all the liberals need is to keep future generations happily ignorant. Its even better than indoctrinating them.

(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")