They’re really going to do it — scrap the Regents exams that have been a staple of New York education for more than a century and a half.
On Monday, the State Education Department presented its timeline for ditching the exams; the Board of Regents is now expected to green-light it.
The plan is to simply award “diplomas” to all students, whether they’ve learned enough to function beyond high school or not.
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The kids, on the other hand, get screwed.
It’s been a bit of a bait-and-switch: Within living memory, the state allowed two tracks to a diploma.
For the more prestigious Regents diploma, the student had to pass five Regents exams to graduate; other kids could earn regular diplomas by meeting less rigorous academic standards.
Then came a lunatic “everyone should go to college” approach, and the state moved toward requiring all kids to pass the exams — which soon led to SED watering the tests down.
Now comes another retreat: Under the plan, students who began high school this year, or begin it the next two years, won’t have to pass any of the tests, though they’ll still be required to take them.
By the 2027-28 school year, no one will even have to take them, let alone pass.
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And no one will be able to hold schools accountable for too many failing scores.
Yes, there’ll still be some soft graduation “requirements,” such as completing a “project” or an “internship.”
But these new “pathways to graduation” won’t show that a student has acquired basic skills, particularly in reading and math — because some kids won’t have acquired them.
But graduation rates will soar.
The educrats will then boast of having “improved” those rates and shrunk the racial gap among kids who “earn” diplomas.
What a disgusting sham.
The anti-test crowd insists the change is needed to ensure “equity”: If some kids get diplomas, all kids should get them, no matter how little they’ve achieved.
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Well, equity, maybe — but definitely not “excellence.”
Indeed, the equity excuse itself is rooted in a racist belief that minority kids are unable to pass the tests at the same rates as whites.
Yet numerous public charter schools (like Success Academy, whose minority students consistently show stellar results) prove that wrong year after year.
Let’s be honest: This is a move to hide the failures of the adults — teachers and other school staff — and shield them from accountability. Period.
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And when the kids’ lack of preparedness shows up later, on the job or in the college classroom, it’ll be too late.
(*) www.WhitePrideHomeSchool.com
* Original Article:
https://nypost.com/2024/11/09/opinion/new-york-will-let-all-kids-graduate-hs-even-if-unprepared-for-the-real-world/?utm_source=smartnews&utm_campaign=nypost&utm_medium=referral
