Fixing The Wrong Problem In Education

Maryland apparently has a problem with students not being able to pass their final exams in order to graduate high school. So, guess what kind of a plan the State School Superintendent, Nancy S. Grasmick, introduces to fix their graduation rate. Increased pay to attract top-level teachers? Sadly, no. Hire more teachers? If only. Better classroom equipment and technology? Wrong again.

She offers a way to graduate without passing the tests.

Her new plan is to allow students to complete projects to "show mastery" of a subject rather than pass tests on those subjects.

Two thoughts here. First, Grasmick is fixing the wrong problem! Instead of focusing on the education that her students are receiving (which, if done properly, would allow her students to pass these tests due to legitimate mastery of the subject), she's focusing simply on the number of students passing. Second, this is exactly what's wrong with our educational system today - administrations completely missing the point of education, forcing teachers to waste time on political correctness rather than TEACHING.

What happened to work ethic? What happened to high expectations? We can't possibly expect students nowadays to have to ***gasp*** do homework, or ***GASP*** study, can we? No, that would be unfair and cruel - after all, they're just kids!

Oh, yeah, that's right. Today's adults had to do all that when we were kids, and we turned out pretty well, didn't we? Making the United States known for world leadership in economics, politics, military, freedom, and all that? Hm, maybe there's a connection...

Is it any wonder the U.S. is falling behind the rest of the world in math and science? If we want to regain our place as the cradle of innovation and technology, we need to stop fiddle-farting around with political correctness and idiotic policies like Grasmick's projects and start expecting high achievement from students. If we as a society require it of them, they'll deliver.

There's my two cents.