Should School Districts lower Graduation requirements?

The Seattle School District is the latest one in an alarming national trend to consider lowering the standard “C” to a “D” grade to boost the number of students graduating from High School. As if eliminating the WASL (Washington Assessment of Student Learning) or SAT scores as it is administered in other states isn’t enough, now is the latest salvo to further ‘dumb’ down the Public Education System. Ironically, although America is one of the best places in the world to get a first class education, yet ranks somewhere around the lower percentile among Industrialized Nations when it comes to academic test scores and student performance. In many countries there is a much greater emphasis on learning Foreign Languages as well as developing more of an interest in Science and Math courses.

With global competition and the increasing advancement of technology and computers mandate learning an even more rigorous curriculum so why are some School Districts lowering the bar to raise the number of graduates just to have them unable to meet the minimum admissions standards for college? Not only that, but with the economy being where it is now with the loss of 15 million jobs, employers are seeking only the very brightest and best applicants to fill the few scare jobs that exist and someone with a mediocre and poor academic record will be at a significant if not insurmountable disadvantage. Schools should provide all the available and necessary resources to equip students with real-world skills that prepare them to either continue learning until achieving scholastic mastery in college of some specified discipline or for the few entering the work force after High School, to be able to offer their employer a diverse knowledge base that will make them an excellent employee and a valuable asset to the company operations.

In consideration of the foregoing statements, it is unconscionable that any rational-minded person would even remotely consider relaxing standards that would only further handicap our children with unsound policies that ransom their future, placing them at the mercy of a technological mandate, which, if they are unable to meet, will leave them forgotten, discarded, left behind, homeless and living in the streets, eating the scraps of food that people throw away; or even worse.


Robert Randle
776 Commerce St. #B-11
Tacoma, WA 98402
September 16, 2009
pbks@hotmail.com