Posted on 03/18/2005 8:37:02 AM PST by NormsRevenge
California's lowered-expectation Democrats have embarked on a pleasantly foul strategy to cope with the state's horrific national ranking of 48 out of 50 states in K-12 academic performance – cancel entirely the already-tabled high school exit exam required to receive a diploma. The exam has become a public relations nightmare for the ruling leftists who dominate both bodies of the legislature in Sacramento.
Ironically, Democrats can’t seem to escape the responsibilities and consequences of some of the good decisions made by other Democrats.
The high school exit exam, the brainchild of one-time Democrat state senator, now Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O' Connell, and the mantelpiece of former “education governor” Gray Davis, was enacted into law in 1999, and scheduled for first use with the state's graduating class of 2004.
However, in July 2003, the California State Board of Education issued a memo titled “State Board of Education Delays Consequences of California High School Exit Exam. Decision postpones exit exam as graduation requirement to class of 2006.” The critical portion of the memo reads as follows:
The action means students in the classes of 2004 and 2005 are no longer required to pass the exit exam as a condition of earning a high school diploma. Instead, the class of 2006 will be the first class that must pass the exit exam as a requirement of graduation. The State Board delayed the exit exam in the wake of a recent independent external evaluation that found the test has been a “major factor” in boosting standards-based instruction and learning but that many students, for different reasons, may not have benefited from courses of initial and remedial instruction to master the required standards.
Translated – the state was worried that an estimated 30-40 percent of 2004 examinees would have failed the test, resulting in thousands of lawsuits filed by angry parents.
This type of exam is nothing new. High school exit exams are now required in 19 states.
So, a pioneering "Queen Bee of Self Esteem" has arrived to save the day. Her name is Karen Bass, a newly elected assemblywoman from Los Angeles. According to Jim Sanders of the Sacramento Bee Capitol Bureau ("Activist takes office, comes out swinging," March 14, 2005):
"Bass, the state's only African American female legislator, is a former nurse and physician's assistant with brown belts in tae kwon do and hapkido martial arts.
"The freshman Los Angeles Democrat is likely to need both skills; toughness and compassion, in tackling one of California's most controversial education issues: the high school exit exam.
"Shortly after unpacking her bags at the Capitol, Bass launched a bid to eliminate the requirement that no diploma be given to high school students who fail the exam, beginning next year.
"If you begin taking the test in the 10th grade and you're not passing it, what's your incentive to finish high school?" Bass asked. "The last thing in the world we want to do is increase the dropout rate."
How inspiring! Just what every ambitious kid needs…a mentor in calling it quits.
Here is the key language of her proposal (AB 1531):
Existing law requires, commencing with the 2003-04 school year and each school year thereafter, each pupil completing grade 12 to successfully pass the exit examination as a condition of graduation from high school. Existing law requires the board, in consultation with the Superintendent, to study the appropriateness of other criteria by which high school pupils who are regarded as highly proficient but unable to pass the exit examination may demonstrate their competency and receive a high school diploma.
Is she serious? "High school pupils who are regarded as highly proficient but unable to pass the exit examination?" What is a high school senior "highly proficient" at if they can't pass a test that educators rate as equivalent to 10th-grade standards? Maybe this language is only an invitation to lawyers to start feeding at the public trough.
You have to hand it to Bass, and other equally dumbed-down progressives like fellow legislators Gil Cedillo, Gloria Romero and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez for their perpetual desire to look out for the best interests of children.
Why, Sacramento is so filled with glee for Bass's activism that they envision her as a potential future assembly speaker when Nunez is termed out in 2008. Nunez, overjoyed with Bass's stance, has already selected Bass as the majority whip.
So Ms. Bass has her marching orders, well-timed to coincide with the governor's proposals for teacher merit pay. After all, if there are no standards to test the educational progress of students, there's no way to determine whether teachers are doing their jobs.
It would seem that Ms. Bass should be more focused on content, aptitude and qualifying students for advancement, and less on doctrinaire liberalism, mediocrity, and self esteem. What is more expensive to the child and the state as a whole? An uneducated dropout, or a valuable contributing individual who works hard in school, sees the value of academic success, and prepares themselves for a lifelong competitive world? The dropout rate is already a huge problem. Ms. Bass's "solution" will only make it worse.
According to the Marin Independent Journal in April 2004, “13 percent of the state’s high school students dropped out last year, according to figures released by the state Department of Education. However, using an alternative method—considered by some educators as far more accurate—the state’s dropout rate was about 30 percent for the same period.”
Talk about depressing. With 7 million students in K-12 and upwards of 30 percent of those kids dropping out, I can't imagine any parent being happy with a party that openly advocates reducing educational standards as some form of constructive response to an embarrassing condition. And yet Democrats are again, venerated, glorified, and exalted for running counter to public objectives. Leave it to "One Bill" Gil Cedillo to make the Democrat's most ludicrous observation about the rise of the Karen Bass philosophy of educational excellence:
"There are certain people who just have this moral authority, this sense of leadership about them. And she's one."
Parents who continue to vote Democrat over progressive policies like these should realize that they are being victimized by deceitful politicians who purport to help their families.
Not a single parent should be satisfied if their undereducated child ends up with backbreaking menial work washing dishes and cleaning houses because nothing more was expected of them, when they could have become doctors, scientists, accountants, and engineers. The “activists” in control have decided that educational excellence takes a back seat to the raw pursuit of political power on the back of innocent kids.
That’s disgraceful!
"Bass, the state's only African American female legislator, is a former nurse and physician's assistant with brown belts in tae kwon do and hapkido martial arts."
I wonder how Bass managed to pass her belt tests? Was she waved through because her instructor wouldn't want her to become a dropout?
How about her nursing exams? Same story?
Wonder how good her martial arts, or her nursing, skill is when put to real use? Guess I wouldn't want to count on either.
You need to differentiate between the true believers and the operatives. Make no mistake about it, there's big money involved in being a liberal. Every new illegal helps drive down educational scores; each new downgrade requires new money to 'solve' the crisis. At its core, Dems are just like any business owner looking to maximize their revenue stream.
I agree with you 100%, I'm just tired of reading anti-California statements that lump every Californian into the liberal category. My point was that there are millions of California conservatives who would have things differently, but we're out numbered.
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I was a bit of an activist when my kids were in school. I, along with other parents, were able to get some teachers fired because of their inability not only to teach, but to keep THEIR PERSONAL POLITICS OUT OF THE CLASSROOM. We fought and won. And we were greatly outnumbered by the CTA and the "educational thugs". If parents just stand up, get involved with the government teaching process, WHICH THEY ARE PAYING FOR DEARLY, they can make a huge difference. The problem is that the majority of them DO NOT. Until that happens, I really feel sorry for the kids, because it is their future and education that is suffering GREATLY!
I wonder how Bass managed to pass her belt tests? Was she waved through because her instructor wouldn't want her to become a dropout?
How about her nursing exams? Same story?
MAIL ORDER
I would like to be on your California ping list, too!
I would like to be on your California ping list, too!
Sorry!!!
You are more than welcome to be on any of my lists. I must clarify however. I don't have a CA list. I have a Sacramento area list and a list of friends that I use in a general way. I will add you to the Sacramento list. I do use it for state issues but it will get local stuff as well. The list of friends gets used for state issues too in addition you would get some general political stuff. I have been using it recently on vote fraud and energy threads.
I'm down here in Orange County, but I would be happy to be on your list.
Thank You.
It's no wonder Kaleeforekneeans are so dumb, and that Jay Leno has no problem finding the dumbest people on the planet during his "Jay walk" segment. Once on Jay walk, the question was: "how many dimes are there in a dollar?" Nobody could get it right. One person he asked said she was studying to be a teacher. She thought there were 5 dimes in a dollar. These are the people who teach kids? Yeech!
To be fair, California's awful education standings aren't entirely the result of the leftist kooks running their schools - because equally destructive leftists kooks are running the schools in most other states too.
The difference is California's enormous immigrant underclass. You see a 30% dropout rate, does that mean 30% of all kids are dropping out? No, it means 60% of the third world, mostly illegal immigrants brought their third world academic ethic with them.
The top 10 states for public high school completion percentage are New Jersey, North Dakota, Utah, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, West Virginia, Montana, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Take a look at the demographics for those states and the why is clear as day.
Well stated!!!
I've had mixed feelings about not having children.
It's got to be tough to deal with the idiots...
No, no, no...it's "?Quieres papas?"
I'm a native myself. Never even lived in another state. I have earned the right to speak my mind on CA issues.
I've had mixed feelings about having had them. LOL.
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