From: Retain Mike Sent: Wednesday, September 7, 2022 3:34 PM Subject: Oregon Eliminates Educational Standards
As a new school year begins, Oregon students will no longer be required to demonstrate skills in reading, writing, and math. For five years until 2026, an Oregon high school diploma will no longer guarantee academic achievement, but only participation in a system with undefined parameters. The legislators, school districts, and the governor supporting Senate Bill 744 saw that this “will benefit Oregon’s Black, Latino, Latina, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, Tribal, and students of color”.
The state has adopted the position held by many 19th century abolitionists. When I read The Life and Times of Fredrick Douglass, one passage always stayed with me. After speaking to an abolitionist audience, Douglass considered the evening a great success, because he concluded his talk believing these people were convinced, he was equally human with them. He mentioned this as a significant event, because many strong supporters of black freedom questioned whether these people were fully human. If educators would treat minorities as individuals, they would design programs allowing opportunities for achievement commensurate with those they have presumed for whites.
I remember Dr. Martin Luther King saying, "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character…..little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.”
That statement of brotherhood still makes sense to me.
A good letter. Too bad none of your local papers saw it fit to post or print it.