To Increase Equity, School Districts Eliminate Honors Classes. Supporters say uniform classes create rigor for all students but critics say cuts hurt faster learners

Wall Street Journal ^ | February 17, 2023 | Sara Randazzo

[karpov]

CULVER CITY, Calif.—A group of parents stepped to the lectern Tuesday night at a school board meeting in this middle-class, Los Angeles-area city to push back against a racial-equity initiative. The high school, they argued, should reinstate honors English classes that were eliminated because they didn’t enroll enough Black and Latino students.

The district earlier this school year replaced the honors classes at Culver City High School with uniform courses that officials say will ensure students of all races receive an equal, rigorous education.

These parents disagreed.

“We really feel equity means offering opportunities to students of diverse backgrounds, not taking away opportunities for advanced education and study,” Joanna Schaenman, a Culver City parent who helped spearhead the effort, said in the run-up to the meeting.

The parental pushback in Culver City mirrors resistance that has taken place in Wisconsin, Rhode Island and elsewhere in California over the last year in response to schools stripping away the honors designation on some high school classes.

School districts doing away with honors classes argue students who don’t take those classes from a young age start to see themselves in a different tier, and come to think they aren’t capable of enrolling in Advanced Placement classes that help with college admissions. Black and Latino students are underrepresented in AP enrollment in the majority of states, according to the Education Trust, a nonprofit that studies equity in education.

Since the start of this school year, freshmen and sophomores in Culver City have only been able to select one level of English class, known as College Prep, rather than the previous system in which anyone could opt into the honors class. School officials say the goal is to teach everyone with an equal level of rigor

[Vision]

When is the country going to stand up against this corrupt notion of “equity”? There’s no “equity” in our founding documents.

[Chickensoup]

It isn’t.

Leave.

[mewzilla]

Cambridge Assessment?! IB?!

Two words: Home school.

Note to DeSantis: Keep this up and folks won’t just wonder if you’re Deep State.

[Vision]

Leave?

[Chickensoup]

Yes

[Vision]

I don’t understand what you are saying.

[Chickensoup]

When is the country going to stand up against this corrupt notion of “equity”? There’s no “equity” in our founding documents.

Not going to happen. Leave.

Cappiche?

[Vision]

Ok, I now understand you but no, I won't be abandoning America become some racist jive turkey con artists are moving forward with their “revolution”.

[Chickensoup]

I wish it was just racist turky talking folks.

It is our entire government.

[BlueLancer]

When I was in fourth grade (1955) the teacher kept a shelf of more advanced books in the back of the schoolroom.

When I was in the 3rd and 4th grade, there was an extra-credit program called "The SRA Reading Laboratory", which was basically a box of large index-style cards divided by various subjects, and each subject was divided by difficulty levels. If you finished with your in-class studies, you could go to the back of the room and select a card from a subject and level. Each card consisted of several paragraphs on the subject matter, followed by short quiz to quantify how well you read and understand the subject.

When you successfully completed each card within the subject and level, you could progress to the next subject and/or level to continue.

I believe that this program is what stimulated by love for reading, and, once I progressed into the 4th and 5th grade, I started spending all of my spare time in the school libraries.

[Elsie]

It is our entire government.

Elected by????

[Chickensoup]

Not sure there has been true elections in a number of years.

More Manipulated by...?

[Reily]

I remember those from my elementary school days.
I too give it and my parents credit for the reason that I am a voracious reader. My home could be mistaken for a library due to the number of books and bookshelves in every room.

[Mr. Jeeves]

“We really feel equity means offering opportunities to students of diverse backgrounds, not taking away opportunities for advanced education and study...”

No, equity means crabs pulling the would-be escapee back into the bucket. The district is achieving the exact results it intends to achieve.

[WoofDog123]

I have thought of this specific story in the last year or two, and it isn’t hard to see why.

It would solve a lot of the issues involving in mandating equality. I do think Vonnegut might have missed the boat on a great opportunity to include normalizing genders - but he may have left it out just to get the story published.