It is always difficult the first time a new requirement is held to the threshold level of expectancy. When there is a minimum level of academic achievement required for a high school diploma, it brings validity to the diploma, demonstrating that students are prepared for higher education and the work force. Although those who do not graduate with a diploma this first year may feel slighted, they have the opportunity to finish in summer school, adult school, or community college. Their continued efforts will be rewarded by whatever jobs or advanced degrees are in their plans. In the long run, upholding the requirements of the CAHSEE for a high school diploma will improve academic performance of millions of students following this brave class who were the first senior class required to fulfill the new academic standards of achievement. You can all be proud of what you have achieved, and move forward to reach your higher goals of your own American Dream.

Every once in a while when you think all hope is lost for our public schools and our legal system, a ray of hope shines through. It seems that finally some common sense may prevail. However this case is not over and there is still time for some judge or elected official to intervene and screw things up for good. Only time will tell, but at least the concept of exit exam testing seems to have a fighting chance.

The notion that it is unfair to allow kids to fail the high school exit exam is pure silliness and would do nothing more than reinforce the lack of standards and accountability that have been a large source of the problem in our schools for decades. We can address the specific problems that are exposed by exit exam testing without resorting to dropping standards and eliminating accountability in an effort to be "fair". Without some type of standards everything becomes subjetive, and we can all sit around and debate whether expectations for grades, SAT scores, attendance, and even behavior are too harsh and unfair to impose on our children. Meanwhile, as we sit around wringing our hands and debating every nuance of the issue ad nauseum the ones being hurt and left behind are our kids.

It's time for everyone to step up to the plate to do their part in improving educational opportunities for our children instead of standing around making excuses and trying to cover up the problem.

Bubba,

What else would you do to improve our schools? Every time I propose something, or give the educrats a framework for a plan, it gets blown off.

Bubba - what do you think are the most serious challenges facing our schools, and how should the State go about fixing them?

Tim

Tim -

That is a very complex question that is hard to answer in just a few sentences. But I'll touch on a few quick points that I think are substantial problems in our public schools.

1. Lawsuits - our schools waste too much time and precious resources dealing with lawsuits or the fear of lawsuits. We need some kind of limited immunity given to our school systems so they aren't constantly afraid of being sued by various groups or individuals. This really limits the ability of teachers and administrators to do their jobs.
2. Too much influence by legislators - politics and education shouldn't mix. Legislators shouldn't be defining curriculum and choosing textbooks.
3. Parental Involvement - that's an easy one, but unfortunately too many parents don't take the education of their children seriously.
4. Public Employee Unions - I'm not opposed to the right of teachers to unionize, but I think the union influence has become too overpowering and is now reached the point where it is dictating education policy and laws, and has also made it almost impossible to remove bad teachers from the system. Union control over school boards and PTAs has become too pervasive. It is the community, and more specifically the parents who should have the real power, not the unions.
5. Political Correctness - as a society we have become too afraid to speak out on issue for fear of offending anyone. This has permeated into our public school systems as well and has severely limited our ability to make rational decision about education policy.
6. Illegal Immigration – this is becoming a growing issue with poorly educated, non-english speaking children being dumped on our school systems. This also drives down per-pupil funding and makes it far more difficult for educators to raise standards when they are dealing with a continual influx of poor performing students that need a disproportionate amount of resoruces.

Actually I could go on and on with this, but I'll stop there.

As far as solutions are concerned, I'm really not very hopeful on any of the above. The problems are too big and too systematic to think that we can implement piecemeal changes and make any substantial improvements. Those with vested interests in the status quo are too entrenched and too powerful for me to envision any significant reform in the forseeable future.

But in an ideal world the real solution lies in parental choice. Free market economies thrive because consumers have a choice on how they spend their money. If you don’t like a product or service you can take your business elsewhere. For businesses to thrive they need to be competitive, otherwise they will go out of existence. The essential problem with public schools is that it is a government monopoly that discriminates against people who don’t have the incomes to give their children other alternatives. Which is precisely why the existing status quo is opposed to vouchers, charter schools, performance testing, merit pay, and just about anything else that involves change. But the real solution is to make an honest attempt to try different things to find out what works and what doesn’t.

That is not to say that there aren’t high performing schools and teachers, there most certainly are. Unfortunately that has become more of an anomaly instead of the norm, and we have an obligation to strive for excellence, even if it makes some people uncomfortable. We are marching into the 21st century with an early 20th century approach to education that is outdated and needs serious reform. Status quo is easy, change is hard.

The high school exit exam seems really redundant. If someone passed all their classes, but can't pass the exit exam, then something is wrong with the grading system.

I absolutely agree with the exam rules and don't think that they are discriminated. There are public schools where everyone can study and the programs are the same all over the state.