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High school kids in Oregon don't need to know how to read, write or do math anymore. Their standardized testing scores began to fall continued to plummet in 2017 and fewer than 50 percent of students who took the math portion of the test passed. Only 53 percent passed the reading exam. So the solution for school officials wasn't to teach better, it was to lower expectations. Well, expectations have been lowered so much, they basically don't exist anymore.
Senate Bill 744 orders a review of state graduation requirements and does not require Oregon students in the classes of 2022, 2023 and 2024 to show proficiency in Essential Learning Skills in order to graduate. So rather than providing graduates with a mortarboard and diploma, students will get a dunce cap with a selfie of themselves standing next to the principal.
The recent law passed the Oregon Legislature in June with a little testimony both for and against the bill.
However, about a month after its signing, newspaper articles and editorials started highlighting the bill, saying Oregon students don’t have to prove they can read, write, or do math to graduate. A Wall Street Journal editorial writes the bill is “Dumbing Oregon Down”.
However, about a month after its signing, newspaper articles and editorials started highlighting the bill, saying Oregon students don’t have to prove they can read, write, or do math to graduate. A Wall Street Journal editorial writes the bill is “Dumbing Oregon Down”.
It started in Oregon before blowing up to national and international coverage. Oregon House Minority leader Christine Drazen appeared on Fox News to talk about it.
Conservative critics called the bill a misguided effort to support underserved students, [aka the soft bigotry of low expectation].
“Politicians and school officials in Oregon are embarrassed that too many minority children fail tests designed to confirm they’ve mastered the ‘essential skills’ that high school is meant to teach,” said WSJ in its editorial. “So in the name of racial equity, they’ve now done the progressive thing.”
The real problem is that their virtue signaling policy of "everyone gets a trophy" is failing to arm graduates with the requisites they need in order to succeed in the real world.
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