Editorial: Delay the exit exam But keep the pressure on high schools

Sacramento Bee ^ | 2:15 a.m. PDT Tuesday, June 17, 2003 | Sacramento Bee Editorial Staff

[Rodsomnia]

Editorial: Delay the exit exam But keep the pressure on high schools Bee Editorial Staff Published 2:15 a.m. PDT Tuesday, June 17, 2003 The 90,000-some students in the Class of 2004 who were expected to fail the high school exit exam can all breathe a collective sigh of relief. State schools chief Jack O'Connell has opted to cancel the planned July administration of the test, which students have been able to take at various times throughout the year, and will likely cancel the September and November administrations as well. His sensible action will save the state more than $1 million and save the schools the grief of administering a test that would very likely have had no consequence for students. That's because the state Board of Education is almost certain to vote next month to delay the passage requirement to 2006 or maybe even 2007. O'Connell proposes to begin administering the test again next January, when the Class of 2006 will be halfway through its sophomore year.

[Rodsomnia]

FYI- I live in LA, most of the students are illegal aliens or their bastard spawn. The LA Unified School budget is over $12,000.00 per pupil. We also pay for daycare for illegal aliens in the headstart program which costs over $7000.00 per child per year. Most Americans are excluded from the Head Start program.

Many working families could use the free day care so they could work overtime to pay for their high taxes but they're ineligible because of their income (by design).

[DoughtyOne]

Abolish the death penalty and prison sentences, but keep the pressure on murderers.

[DoughtyOne]

I hear ya. Washington sure as hell can't!

[glorgau]

Delay the exit exam But keep the pressure on high schools

Unhhhh, the exam is the pressure.

[Hobsonphile]

An anticipated failure rate of roughly 20 percent of the Class of 2004 would not have been politically supportable.

How exactly will it help these kids to give them their diplomas knowing that such a high number will not pass a simple standards of learning exam? In the real world, you will be hard pressed to find work if you are essentially illiterate.

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[KarlInOhio]

About the only pressure on Kookifornia public schools is 14.7 pounds per square inch from the atmosphere.

[mewzilla]

I've got a better idea: Home/private/parochial school.

[Reeses]

How exactly will it help these kids to give them their diplomas knowing that such a high number will not pass a simple standards of learning exam?

I say give them their diploma if it makes them happy. Employers don't verify high school completion anyway because it has been meaningless for years. If we flunk them we have to pay for another year of party time. The function of public school is to keep future Democrats away from the kids who want to learn.

[Clara Lou]

Nicely put-- the old "let's hold them responsible, but not too responsible."

[heleny]

the exam's standards -- pegged at roughly the ninth-grade level in English and eighth-grade level in math -- are not negotiable.

Not to mention, the kids get 7 chances to repeat the parts of the test that they fail, and they only need something like 40% to pass. It's so easy, everyone I knew passed it in the 9th grade (way back when the test wasn't a statewide requirement), and everyone knew the test was a joke. You don't even need to know Algebra to pass math, and television-level English is more than sufficient.

The test was designed not to prove children learned anything in high school, but to justify the need for teachers; unfortunately for them, the idea backfired and shows the awful state of education where HS seniors would have graduated but don't even grasp 8th grade level material.

[LiteKeeper]

Many universities are complaining that most entering freshmen have to take remdial courses so they can begin doing college-level work!

[churchillbuff]

Abolish the death penalty and prison sentences, but keep the pressure on murderers.

LOL !!!

[churchillbuff]

The function of public school is to keep future Democrats away from the kids who want to learn.

In part. The function is also to keep potential delinquents off the street.

[DoughtyOne]

Can you believe that in some school districts the hispanics had to petition their local schools to get them to quit destroying their youth with bilingual education? The parents acually had to fight the school to get them to teach through emersion, the only successful way to teach English proven to work.

The arrogence of school officials borders on criminal to my way of thinking.

[A_perfect_lady]

The 90,000-some students in the Class of 2004 who were expected to fail the high school exit exam can all breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Mm hmm. There it is, right in the first sentence. The key to the thought processes behind the whole problem.

[Amerigomag]

Oh beautiful California where have you gone?

To hell in a panderers handbasket.

Gray Davis invited the Mexicans to the party and George Bush gave his blessing.

The irony is that neither man will benefit from their pandering. Davis will not remain governor much longer and Bush will loose California in 2004.