In relation to this post, I read an news article in the Los Angeles Times stating that following Santa Cruz's example, hundreds of school districts in California are requesting to be exempt from a new california law stating that a year of algebra (or equivalent) is required for all graduating seniors.
Just looking at the surface of this development, I can see several things that are horribly wrong with the way the state deals with education. First, and most obvious, is the fact that instead of bucking up and raising the bar (a fairly low bar, I might add) on their students, school districts are screaming "unfair" and requesting exemption from the law...which is basically completely giving up the fight. Second, and perhaps even more disturbing, is that it was considered NORMAL, everyday practice to graduate seniors who had never passed algebra in the first place up until very, very recently. Now we aren't talking about calculus here, or math analysis, or even trig or geometry. Its fucking algebra, a class that I passed in 7th grade and one of the ONLY classes I ever took that I'm constantly using every day both at work and in college.
Now, what kind of education system behaves in this way? One whos purpose is to enlighten and educate the minds of the masses, or one whos purpose is to act as day care until the masses are old enough to join the workforce? Which of those two functions better serves the economic/socio-political system currently in effect in our society?
Evil scars after they remove it!
