Vicious Rants of an Angry Yellow Man

A judge in California placed an injunction against the California High School Exit Exam. The judge cited the unequal education system leading to a higher proportion of minority and poor students failing the exam. While economics and the school one attends would have a significant impact on one's performance on standardized tests, there is really no excuse for failing this exam. The standards of this exam is extremely low. The math portion is at 8th grade level and the English part tests at 10th grade level. You only need a 55% to pass the math section and 60% to pass the English part. Starting from 10th grade a student has two chances to pass the test each year. So essentially one has 6 chances to pass with a D- or F+ on tests that are two to four year levels below what a graduating senior should know. Not only that, the test was suppose to have been implented for the class of 2004 but was pushed back to this year for political reasons. There was plenty of time for the schools and students to prepare for this and yet over 10% of the senior students in the state have yet to pass the exam. Somehow these students have been passed by the school to the 12th grade despite not really having learned at the high school level. No wonder the high school diploma is becoming worthless.

It is true that some of the students do not pass the exam are disadvantaged by the fact that they are immigrants and thus are behind in English. From previous blogs you know that I am for immigrant rights. I am, however, a firm believer that you need to play the cards that you were dealt. Immigrants, of all people, should understand this. Just because you are disadvantaged it doesn't give you an excuse not to succeed. Non-English speaking immigrants from various countries in our history have overcame disadvantages and became successful. I believe that the immigrants today have the same ability to succeed and will not make our country poorer as some conservatives claim. However, if there is one thing that will make immigrants unsuccessful, it would be because liberals making excuses on behalf of immigrants. This lawsuit is an example of this. The liberals supported two Hispanic students from Richmond, claiming being disadvantaged on this test. The students should have been held accountable for their failure to learn the material. Over the long run this type of excuses will make immigrants less competitve.

Our public school systems are graduating students who cannot function in society. Recently a business employer wrote to our local newspaper complaining about the quality of high school graduates in the area. Not surprisingly, several teachers and school administrators wrote in to protest. My experience has been the same as the employer writer. The majority of high school graduates who apply for a job in my office cannot convert inches to feet or ounces to pounds. Do you think that would be true of high school graduates in China and India? We need to hold students, parents and schools accountable for such failures. This exit exam is just a minimum standard which they should meet.