12 May 2007

So I Wasn't Just Imagining There Were More Dumbasses Around These Days

But really, it's no joking matter: the Chronicle reports that California's high school graduation rate has dropped to a ten year low, and that only two thirds of the state's students manage to muddle through the minimal requirements for a diploma. The picture looks much worse in major urban areas: in Los Angeles and Oakland not even half the students manage to graduate (41% and 46%, respectively). San Francisco surprisingly manages to beat the odds, with a 73% pass rate, and I say surprisingly because over the years I've come to expect any and all public institutions run by The City That Used To Know How to be corrupt and incompetent.

Frankly, I'm still inclined to suspect chicanery on the part of SFUSD: could it be that they're using dubious means to help students to beat the new state exit exam? Considering that the city routinely declares itself exempt from federal immigration laws and state laws barring racial quotas, it would hardly be shocking.

The usual suspects can be found proclaiming from their ivory towers in Backwards Land that the problem lies not in poor teachers, lousy administration, screwy curricula or sloppy/nonexistent discipline, but in the exit exam itself. Attorney John Affeldt, who's spent nearly a decade lobbying if favor of high school diplomas for illiterates, argues, "The state has not yet earned the right to impose this exit exam penalty on [students]."

Having to take a test to prove you've acquired the (very) basic skills conferred by a modern high school education is a "penalty?" The state has to "earn" the right to impose standards for a diploma? By that logic how has the state "earned" the right to require people to know how to drive
(well, in theory, anyway) before they're awarded a driver's license? Isn't it horribly oppressive to expect idealistic young people to jump through years of hoops and state-mandated exams before being allowed to practice as brain surgeons?

The "all must have prizes" school of educational theory maintains that students are more or less entitled to a high school diploma if they hang around long enough on the grounds that it might damage their self-esteem if they don't receive the same recognition as students who've actually done some work. Never mind that as a result a high school diploma becomes about as significant as the gold stars awarded to kindergarteners for being quiet during nap time, and that students now have to spend four more years and tens of thousands of dollars for a college degree proving essentially what a high school diploma used to, i.e., literacy and numeracy.

New York City doesn't do any better, by the way, with a graduation rate similar to that of Oakland or LA. Considering the steadily dwindling demand for unskilled labor in this country, investors looking for growth opportunities might be well advised to consider the prison sector. California, always a national trendsetter, has already announced its own $7.4 billion expansion.

4 comments:

Zalex said...

In New York state you've got to take Regents (state tests) every year, I'm guessing that California has Regents, or something similar too?

Larry Livermore said...

Until recently, no test was required to graduate from California schools, but beginning with the class of 2006, students had to pass an exit exam in order to be awarded a diploma. Since quite a few students had previously been allowed to graduate without meeting the basic requirements, graduation rates subsequently dropped, outraging those who feel that a high school diploma is an entitlement rather than something that needs to be earned.

Anonymous said...

Yes, unfortunately, there ARE more dumbasses around. It's kind of sad, really. I'm only 22 and I'm already scared that my generation is the future of this country. I feel like rounding up all the smart people I know and overthrowing the idiots.

Zalex said...

Yes, unfortunately, there ARE more dumbasses around. It's kind of sad, really. I'm only 22 and I'm already scared that my generation is the future of this country. I feel like rounding up all the smart people I know and overthrowing the idiots.

I know exactly how you feel. The majority of the kids in my high school don't even care if they graduate from high school or not. Although, I live in a town in which many of the student's parents never completed high school, so that's got a pretty good affect on them. Sometimes I wonder there are a lot of other places like my town... I guess there are =/