Replies

1 posted on 05/24/2006 1:55:45 PM PDT by cakid

Freedman is an idiot!

2 posted on 05/24/2006 1:57:14 PM PDT by freeangel ( (free speech is only good until someone else doesn't like what you say))

3 posted on 05/24/2006 1:57:22 PM PDT by BenLurkin

Again I quote my daughter saying the test was "embarrassingly easy"

4 posted on 05/24/2006 2:00:01 PM PDT by steveo (Fathers Against Rude Television: You may already be a member)

Sanity breaks out again.

5 posted on 05/24/2006 2:03:49 PM PDT by Unam Sanctam

7 posted on 05/24/2006 2:13:11 PM PDT by SmithL (I voted)

This debate reminds me of a Jeff Jacoby column from 2000. Here are the relevant excerpts:

" More and more states are requiring students to pass a standardized test as a condition of getting a high school diploma, and the complaints are flying fast and thick. These tests are unfair, the grumblers grumble. They ask irrelevant questions, the fumers fume. They subvert regular lessons. They force educators to teach to the test. They aren't good yardsticks of what students really know. They're racist."

...

"Consider, for instance, what students in California's Central Valley Were once expected to know. Here are some questions from the history portion of the 1914 Kern County High School test. These were not multiple choice; students had to write short essays, not fill in a circle with a No. 2 pencil. (Some questions in this column have been condensed or edited for clarity.)

• Give an account of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

• Connect these names with US history: Captain Perry, Robert Fulton, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Lafayette, General Pickett.

• Give an account of the causes of the Civil War. Name four battles and the opposing generals in each.

• Tell all you can of the events of the McKinley Administration.

• Give a brief account of the construction of the Panama Canal.

• Explain the effects of the European War [the first phase of World War I] on the commerce of the US. On the revenue of the US. What remedies have been applied?

As kids are the same in every era, no doubt there were plenty in 1914 who resented having to master such "ridiculous" and "byzantine" details. What employer, some must have muttered, is ever going to ask me about the Panama Canal?"

...

"Are you amazed that high school graduates a century ago could handle questions like the ones in this column? Actually, they could handle far more. You see, the questions you've just read were all from tests to get into high school. They were tests, in other words, of what the educated 8th-grader was presumed to have mastered."

http://216.247.220.66/jacoby/2000/jj06-26-00.htm

8 posted on 05/24/2006 2:20:13 PM PDT by Cousin Eddie

10th grade English

Racism! Racism!

9 posted on 05/24/2006 2:26:51 PM PDT by Lexinom

Arguendo, if the plantiffs had a point, that the poor and minority students were ill-prepared, wouldn't the logical solution be that the state prepare them properly as opposed to giving them a devalued piece of paper and sending them on their merry but unprepared way? What would have been the reaction had the judge said "one more year of school for them all?"

11 posted on 05/24/2006 2:31:30 PM PDT by NonValueAdded ("Too soon to remember??? How about TOO SOON TO FORGET!" from Mr. Silverback)

Thanks for the good news.

12 posted on 05/24/2006 2:41:14 PM PDT by Kluster (FIRE DREIER)

On May 12, Alameda Superior Court Judge Robert Freedman invalidated the graduation requirement for 2006 graduates, saying California was ill equipped "to adequately prepare students to take the exam," especially in poor, underfunded areas of the state.

In California all money for education is distributed on an equal per student basis statewide, currently over 12K per student. There are no "poor, underfunded" areas. There are money grubbing unions and bureaucrats who make sure most of the money never sees the class room.

13 posted on 05/24/2006 2:45:49 PM PDT by Hugin

What's the point in having a competency test if the truly incompetent can invalidate it?

Does anyone have a list of reasons that attempts to justify what's happened?

Mind you, they don't have to be good reasons... or sane ones...

14 posted on 05/24/2006 3:15:29 PM PDT by Publius6961 (Multiculturalism is the white flag of a dying country)

Passing the exit exam is a requirement for applying to any public 4 year college in California. Those who fail to pass are only permitted access to the community colleges. The community colleges become remedial institutions for poor quality K-12. California spends about 60% more per student than Idaho, but performs at a significantly lower level.

17 posted on 05/24/2006 4:15:19 PM PDT by Myrddin

...This year's class was the first in which passing the test of 10th grade English and eighth grade math and algebra was required for graduation.
A group of students sued the state, claiming the test discriminates against low-income and minority students. ...

The harshest bigotry that exists is that of low expectations. This is really sad.

18 posted on 05/24/2006 4:25:59 PM PDT by ContraryMary (New Jersey -- Superfund cleanup capital of the U.S.A.)

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