Lower the Bar

There used to be a joke in the military about how to phrase evaluation reports in a kind way. One of the tired jokes was the line:

Sets consistently low standards and fails to meet them.

That apparently is the model being used by Arne Duncan, the Messiah's Secretary of Education. You don't need to be a news junkie to know that a continual bleat of the NEA is that the demands for standardized testing imposed by the No Child Left Behind legislation make their job too difficult and detract from important education on things like Gay History, the nuances of performance art, and the lack of a relationship between global warming and economic stagnation. Here's his solution to the impending failure of a majority of union-infested schools:

Can't Pass? Then Waiver and Advance Anyway!

Somehow ignored in all of this are such basics as the concept that public education in America is traditionally a responsibility of local communities. The local school district, the non-partisan citizen Board of Education, the acceptance of a locally set ad valorem property tax and the establishment of local curriculum, text book selections and teacher qualification criteria are all abandoned in yet another usurpation of federal authority.

In a classic tail wagging dog arrangement we see local school districts funding nearly half of the expense, states supplying supplemental funds ranging roughly 40-50% of the cost depending upon the state, and the feds coughing up less than 10% of the money for K-12 schools. Yet the DOE calls the tune.

Entire generations mouth the whining gripe about "teaching to the test" somehow ignoring the fact that if we don't teach what is expected to be learned then when the evaluation comes we will fail in life.

K-12 education is about performance of elemental skills to an acceptable adult standard. We must be proficient in reading and writing to communicate in our society. We must understand some basic mathematical operations to prepare for more advanced tasks. We must have some familiarity with the history which preceded us and the planet on which we live. These are standard-based tasks. They can be measured objectively. When the standard is evaluated you can reach above or below the line. That is a meaningful number and not at all debatable.

You could argue that the standard is poorly set and irrelevant. That means go back and review your standard. But then you must test to insure performance to that level is achieved before advancing to the next level.

You can't simply waiver and pronounce, "no harm, no foul."

Unless, of course, you want to keep receiving union contributions and harvesting the votes of the ignorati.