No, this is not the Bee. Oregon has decided that basic literacy and basic maths competency are not only unworthy goals of K-12 public education but that they shouldn’t even be a requirement to “earn” (really, at this point, just be granted) a high school diploma. Because ‘equity.’
‘Equity’ is, to my mind, among the most destructive, divisive, soul-crushing concepts in the ideological universe, the myriad and far-reaching consequences of this systemic cruelty will be felt for generations.
Apparently, Oregon governor Kate Brown has some inkling of the damage she is doing because she reportedly kept her stance on and even the eventual signing of this bill into law under the radar.
For the next five years, an Oregon high school diploma will be no guarantee that the student who earned it can read, write or do math at a high school level.Gov. Kate Brown had demurred earlier this summer regarding whether she supported the plan passed by the Legislature to drop the requirement that students demonstrate they have achieved those essential skills. But on July 14, the governor signed Senate Bill 744 into law.Through a spokesperson, the governor declined again Friday to comment on the law and why she supported suspending the proficiency requirements.Brown’s decision was not public until recently, because her office did not hold a signing ceremony or issue a press release and the fact that the governor signed the bill was not entered into the legislative database until July 29, a departure from the normal practice of updating the public database the same day a bill is signed.
We all hear horror stories about students “graduating” high school without being able to read or write, but we think of these as isolated instances and typically occurring in Democrat-run inner cities. Now Oregon is enshrining illiteracy, including maths illiteracy, into actual state law. It’s mind-blowing.
Oregon Live continues:
[Charles] Boyle[, the governor’s deputy communications director,] said in an emailed statement that suspending the reading, writing and math proficiency requirements while the state develops new graduation standards will benefit “Oregon’s Black, Latino, Latina, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, Tribal, and students of color.”
Latino, Latina, AND Latinx? Someone needs to bone up on their woke speak.
Oregon Live continues:
“Leaders from those communities have advocated time and again for equitable graduation standards, along with expanded learning opportunities and supports,” Boyle wrote.Lawmakers and the governor did not pass any major expansion of learning opportunities or supports for Black, Indigenous and students of color during this year’s legislative session.The requirement that students demonstrate freshman- to sophomore-level skills in reading, writing and, particularly, math led many high schools to create workshop-style courses to help students strengthen their skills and create evidence of mastery. Most of those courses have been discontinued since the skills requirement was paused during the pandemic before lawmakers killed it entirely.
This is always the Democrat response to groups of students who do not achieve even basic reading/writing and maths skills: don’t lift them up by targeting and helping these students; instead, drag everyone down by simply eliminating basic proficiency requirements for all students. Problem solved! Yeah, yeah, this creates new and far worse problems, “unintended consequences,” but so what? That’s down the road.
Shameful.
Needless to say, people have thoughts.
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