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Saturday, May 26, 2007

Students Protesting After Not Being Allowed To Graduate Because Of Failing Grade On Test

Because you shouldn’t have to know stuff to graduate, I guess:

FORT WORTH — Students who had been planning to walk across the stage at graduation ceremonies this weekend were instead walking a picket line Thursday morning.

The Trimble Tech High School seniors marched in front of Fort Worth Independent School District headquarters to protest Wednesday’s decision by trustees to bar students who failed the TAKS test from commencement exercises.

About a dozen young people, carrying signs and chanting, began picketing at 8:30 a.m. Thursday. They represent the 613 Fort Worth seniors who did not pass the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills exam.

Crystal Martinez complained that while she finished at the top of her class with a 3.5 grade point average, she is now blocked from graduation by failing the TAKS test.

One can’t know for sure, but I do wonder if Crystal’s failure of the TAKS test despite a relatively high GPA isn’t an indication of teachers lowering standards in classrooms to inflate GPA’s.  I’ve posted about it before, and I suspect that it’s happening all over the country.  After all, public school teachers are under a lot of pressure to improve the education of our children given that we a) spend more on education per student in American than any other country on the planet and b) routinely see our kids rank in the middle of the pack and below by international standards.

It’s easy to simply make assignments easier and pass kids along.  It’s harder to actually teach them things.

Anyway, here’s a picture of one of the protesters:

image

Seems to me like there’s probably some pretty good reasons why these kids aren’t graduating.  A diploma isn’t something we should be handing out simply because some kid attended classes for 12 years.

(via FIU)

Comments

I work for a Fortune 500 company and provide tech support for 167 people.

At least a third of them are functionally illiterate; they can’t read with any comprehension and they can’t successfully express themselves with the written word.

A result, no doubt, “ of teachers lowering standards in classrooms to inflate GPA’s.”

P.S. It’s a major telecommunications company.... and 33% of it’s employees can’t communicate wink Ouch!...and you wonder why it takes 5 fucking days to get your DSL repaired....


All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth. —Aristotle ...

Joel on May 26, 2007 at 01:44 am

Joel, how many of these illiterates were hired because of diversity and race quotas?


The Supreme Court is a bunch of black robed tyrants

docdave on May 26, 2007 at 02:16 am
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Two observations:

1. Did anyone read the sign the girl is holding? 

Let are kids walk…

2. TAKS stands for Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.  The purpose of the test is to make sure that kids are actually learning basics and the test is extremely basic.  I just received the scores for my two Princes and both were off the chart score wise.  They have an entire day set aside for the test and my guys just take lots of reading material because they usually finish a 3 hour section in about 30 minutes.

Both complain that it is a very easy test.  If you cannot pass this test, you truly should not be allowed to graduate.

King of Fools on May 26, 2007 at 06:05 am

They should give these kids diploma’s and let them go straight into the teaching profession.


What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.


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The Whistler on May 26, 2007 at 06:13 am

This country is going to pay heavily for raising an entitlement generation. We’ve told every child they are special and a success no matter whether they succeed or not, try or not, just by virtue of their breathing we have convinced them they are special and deserve to get what ever they want.

Hard work, dedication, honesty, virtue, the lessons learned by failure, personal responsibility and a host of other things have been left out of this generation’s life lessons, and they and we will pay the price for our over indulgence of our children.


No matter the age or state of health, for a military man it is always glorious to tilt at windmills, rescue a fair Dulcinea and be a gallant knight in armor in a glorious cause.

Neiman on May 26, 2007 at 07:15 am

Wouldn’t it be cool if all of us—ALL of us—had to take a standardized test every year?  And were all required to wear a badge on our clothes with our score proudly displayed for all to see?

At least then we’d all know who we were dealing with…

Not all diplomas, nor all 3.5 GPA’s are equal.  Thus the need for a standardized test.


[Feet make good soup!]

Marty on May 26, 2007 at 08:25 am
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I feel a need to point that of the 5 commenters before me, 2 of them (that would be 40%) incorrectly punctuated the nouns “diploma” and “it.”

Greg Griffith on May 26, 2007 at 08:26 am
Rob
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I’m pretty sure that “it” is a pronoun.

Not that we don’t all make typos and grammatical errors when writing in the comments section of a blog....


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Rob on May 26, 2007 at 08:55 am

2 of them (that would be 40%) incorrectly punctuated the nouns “diploma” and “it.”

ouch, but I pretty much let the spell check do my proofreading on comments. 

It’s funny how you just let your fingers fly when you’ve done this stuff enough.


What’s going to happen to US industry when the global warming extremists like John McCain double the price of electricity?  I would think all these factories will close and set up in countries where they aren’t scared of technology.


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The Whistler on May 26, 2007 at 10:57 am
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Not that we don’t all make typos and grammatical errors when writing in the comments section of a blog....

I don’t. Then again, I read books without pictures.
Dave on May 26, 2007 at 07:14 pm
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