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Graduating high school in New York State once actually meant that students were prepared for the academic rigors that they would face while in college and in life in general, but tragically that is not the case any longer.
The New York Post editorial board correctly pointed out that graduation standards for students attending public high schools in the Big Apple has taken a colossal nose dive. While it has been public knowledge that the level of educational instruction in the schools is rapidly declining, we had thought that at least students would graduate with a Regents Diploma, which was at one time a prestigious accomplishment.
The Post also points out that if a student should desire to obtain a Regents Diploma “must now pass five Regents Exams, though “passing” now means scoring only a 65 and the board has added various loopholes.”
Advocates for watering down graduation standards have suggested that if students are unable to pass Regents exams, then they can still get one by offering a class project instead or showing that that are familiar with the subject matter in the exam in a different way.
It goes without saying that the United Federation of Teachers union has applauded such lowering of test standards. It has become abundantly clear since the days of union chieftain Albert Shanker up until the controversial Randi Weingarten, that New York City public school teachers are not in the classroom to impart essential knowledge to students in order to prepare them for college but they are there to have a cushy job with tons of benefits and a grand pension package.
Teachers are concerned about staying out of the “rubber room”, not making any waves as they bide their time until retirement. We often hear the UFT brass leading the rank and file in the chant “It’s All About the Kids” as they protest for their own rights as teachers but in reality, they could care less about the kids that they purportedly teach. How incredibly sad to see the devolution of venalities in this far left leaning union.
The Post notes that “lowering the requirements for earning a high school diploma doesn’t help students who suffered severe learning loss during the pandemic. It just hides the evidence.” No truer words were ever said and those kids who are college bound may find themselves in remedial classes at some community college as they lack the ability to pass college courses.
Angelique Johnson-Dingle, deputy state education commissioner for P-12 Instructional Support disagrees and said, It’s about giving kids “the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and knowledge in the best way that suits them.”
In reality it about acquiescing to special interests who don’t want anyone to know the painful truth about how poorly the schools are operating,
The Board of Regents is stacked with such credentialed ideologues, like Manhattan’s Shino Tanikawa (a bigot with a history of extremist, anti-white remarks), who believe that “equity” should supersede ensuring that all students can read, write and do math, according to the Pos editorial.
And like Chancellor Lester Young Jr., who told his colleagues that the goal of education shouldn’t be “completion” but rather preparing students to be successful in the next stage of life. But how to prepare them without objective measures of proficiency and competency?
Absent some kind of political revolt, New York public education will keep spiraling downward, because that’s what the folks in charge want.
