Regents, Rigor, and Ridiculousness
Last week when I told Wes (our principal) that officials from the Regents schools in our state were campaigning for additional math and civics requirements for students seeking admission to state colleges, he had a one word comment: "Idiots!" Coming from him, careful and cautious as he normally is, that's a devastating analysis. He further opined that the people pushing this are hoping for recognition in this election year for being pro-education.
Although less vehemently stated in public, many high school administrators agree with Wes. At a time when budget cuts are common, adding requirements that call for increased personnel looks unworkable.
If our school does as we have always done in the past, if public high schools add these requirements for graduation, we will do the same for those in our school on a college prep track.
I don't have anything against learning more math and civics. Well, I don't have anything against the civics anyway. The math--now that I'm glad I escaped having to learn. I do struggle more and more overall, though, with feeling good about a commitment to follow the state's program in our school.
Why do we do this? I suppose it's because we want to be sure we have a credible program, and we want our students to do well if/when they go on to college. But it's clear to me that students can do well in college even if they haven't had all the high school courses one might wish for. I know a lot of people who gained admission to college with a GED and finished school successfully. Some of them were outstanding college students.
We also want to be sure that our graduates are well-prepared for life outside of school. Let me ask you this: How many times, outside of school, have you needed to know how to do advanced math? Granted, I've never been in a math-intensive occupation, and I'm not much good for answering the high school students' math questions, but my simple algebra knowledge has sufficed for most of the life tasks I've attempted. Of course, I have the benefit of having married a man who never met a math problem he couldn't solve. Or so it seems to me, at least. I think it's possible for most people to be well-prepared for life without a knowledge of higher-level high school math. (Are my biases showing yet?)
What I'm afraid we sacrifice if we continue to stack up required courses like math and civics as requirements, is that the elective courses that most accurately reflect our faith and community values will rank lower and lower in our students' priorities. The time crunch will force some of these decisions. Parents will acquiesce to their children's preferences, knowing that if life is to reflect any kind of balance during the high school years, something has to be cut out, and it will most likely not be required courses or youth group activities.
I'm very ready to have finer minds than mine consider the implications of continuing to follow the course we're on. Asking some hard questions about our goals, taking a good look at what it takes to reach the goals we agree on, and making necessary course adjustments (Did you catch the accidental pun?) seems to be called for. I have a feeling that those who might agree are afraid to do so lest they appear to be soft on the notion of educational rigor. Or maybe they're afraid someone will put them to work to try to help figure things out. Both of those excuses make me feel tired. I think I'd better sign off on this subject before I succumb to the temptation to apply Wes' one-word analysis to this situation as well.
Although less vehemently stated in public, many high school administrators agree with Wes. At a time when budget cuts are common, adding requirements that call for increased personnel looks unworkable.
If our school does as we have always done in the past, if public high schools add these requirements for graduation, we will do the same for those in our school on a college prep track.
I don't have anything against learning more math and civics. Well, I don't have anything against the civics anyway. The math--now that I'm glad I escaped having to learn. I do struggle more and more overall, though, with feeling good about a commitment to follow the state's program in our school.
Why do we do this? I suppose it's because we want to be sure we have a credible program, and we want our students to do well if/when they go on to college. But it's clear to me that students can do well in college even if they haven't had all the high school courses one might wish for. I know a lot of people who gained admission to college with a GED and finished school successfully. Some of them were outstanding college students.
We also want to be sure that our graduates are well-prepared for life outside of school. Let me ask you this: How many times, outside of school, have you needed to know how to do advanced math? Granted, I've never been in a math-intensive occupation, and I'm not much good for answering the high school students' math questions, but my simple algebra knowledge has sufficed for most of the life tasks I've attempted. Of course, I have the benefit of having married a man who never met a math problem he couldn't solve. Or so it seems to me, at least. I think it's possible for most people to be well-prepared for life without a knowledge of higher-level high school math. (Are my biases showing yet?)
What I'm afraid we sacrifice if we continue to stack up required courses like math and civics as requirements, is that the elective courses that most accurately reflect our faith and community values will rank lower and lower in our students' priorities. The time crunch will force some of these decisions. Parents will acquiesce to their children's preferences, knowing that if life is to reflect any kind of balance during the high school years, something has to be cut out, and it will most likely not be required courses or youth group activities.
I'm very ready to have finer minds than mine consider the implications of continuing to follow the course we're on. Asking some hard questions about our goals, taking a good look at what it takes to reach the goals we agree on, and making necessary course adjustments (Did you catch the accidental pun?) seems to be called for. I have a feeling that those who might agree are afraid to do so lest they appear to be soft on the notion of educational rigor. Or maybe they're afraid someone will put them to work to try to help figure things out. Both of those excuses make me feel tired. I think I'd better sign off on this subject before I succumb to the temptation to apply Wes' one-word analysis to this situation as well.
posted by Mrs. I at
6:35 PM
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