School-grade policies get scrutiny (Richmond, VA)

Richmond Times-Dispatch ^ | 6/4/03 | LINDSAY KASTNER

[NittanyLion]

PETERSBURG - The Petersburg School Board will consider revisions tonight to the student promotion policy that will make it easier for some pupils to move up to the next grade.

The proposal would promote all kindergartners to first grade and would no longer require elementary school pupils to pass reading to advance a grade.

[NittanyLion]

A simple answer to students who can't meet the minimum standards: simply lower the standards so more pass...

[Zavien Doombringer]

Who says there isn't any "dumbing - Down" of our citizens? Those that can't read, will not be able to understand what the government is doing.

[chachacha]

Someday they will became your Doctor. This is pathetic!

Where's the outrage from the parents?

Unless they're just as stupid as the kids.

Proud Teachers! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

[Adder]

"During that meeting, Farley, who also serves on the curriculum committee, said reading instruction is now integrated into other subjects."

Then no one should fail Reading so why change the policy? It would seem to me that given the reliance on reading in Reading and in the other core subjects, passing along students who can't pass Reading is setting them up for definite failure.

Of course, lowering your "failure" rates, makes the schools look much mo betta and keeps those $$'s a-flowin.

[NittanyLion]

Who says there isn't any "dumbing - Down" of our citizens? Those that can't read, will not be able to understand what the government is doing.

Reading is overrated anyway. I'm sure I'll continue to get promoted - even if I can't work effectively - so long as I feel good about myself.

[Zavien Doombringer]

Very good post, now here's your cookie...See, you feel good now don't you? :)

[Xenalyte]

Great. As a former English teacher, I can attest to the whopping, stunning success of social promotion. (/sarcasm)

Bottom line: if you cannot read, you CANNOT advance in our society. The school board is doing those children a tremendous disservice, and if I lived in that district - well, I'll homeschool anyway, so that doesn't count.

But all the same, those kids are destined for a lifetime of hollering "CO-beer!" at baseball games.

[YourAdHere]

No surprise there. My doctor now can't speak english, so I don't expect him to be able to read it either.

[NittanyLion]

Bottom line: if you cannot read, you CANNOT advance in our society.

I don't understand...

Seriously, this should be a real source of embarrassment to anyone associated with this district. Especially the school board, who evidently feel they're performing a valuable service by lowering standards. Again.

[Mears]

Keep promoting these kids and then have remedial reading courses in college.

I read some time ago that colleges do have such things and my only question is "How did they get into college in the first place?".

The US is rapidly being dumbed down and we had better smarten up. Most of the developed countries in the world beat us,hands down, on education.

[Clara Lou]

Did you notice that this is the school board doing the "dumbing down"? I find this comment, "We're not going to have any babies failing kindergarten'cause they didn't color in the right lines," perfectly frightening coming from any school board member. It reflects a terrible understanding of education, in this case, at the kindergarten level. I'm convinced that fully 75 percent of school board members are unfit to sit on a school board.

[Xenalyte]

Keep promoting these kids and then have remedial reading courses in college.

I taught freshman English at the University of Houston for two years, and I was not about to teach grammar and spelling. I recommended to about 30% of my students that they drop my class and take a basic one at UH or at Houston Community College.

I spent an amazing amount of my time either in the classroom or working with my students and their papers, and I wouldn't have been able to teach them logic and rhetoric (which was, after all, my job) if grammar and punctuation were lacking.

I was an incredible hardass, too. All the papers were take-home, so my students had beaucoup chances to have someone proof their work. One sentence fragment would fail a paper, as would one run-on sentence. Each spelling or punctuation error was one letter grade off.

[Bob Buchholz]

I often wonder about the idea that 'Every child will be able to read before leaving the third grade'.

How in the hell did they ever get INTO the third grade if they can't read?

[NittanyLion]

It reflects a terrible understanding of education, in this case, at the kindergarten level.

Sure does. If the school board believes kindergarten teachers hold kids back because they can't color in the lines, they should actually go speak with at least one competent teacher.

I'm convinced that fully 75 percent of school board members are unfit to sit on a school board.

I'm torn between the need for oversight of public schools and the fact that so many boards are populated with abject morons. Quite honestly, I can't decide which group hurts the system more.

[Freedom4US]

It's worse than you think. The next time some statist educrat boasts how test scores have improved over the last 80+ years, ask them if the same test has been given. Watch them hem and haw and obfuscate the issue. The educational system is largely broken in many areas, and everyone knows it. Whether anything gets done about is another matter entirely.

[NittanyLion]

The next time some statist educrat boasts how test scores have improved over the last 80+ years, ask them if the same test has been given.

Surely you're not suggesting we continue to administer the same culturally-biased tests?!?

The horror...

[Clara Lou]

Let's not forget all of those future engineers who come into a university not knowing how to do fractions! My neighbor tells me that our major university offers remedial math courses for these students. It's sad, very sad.

[Xenalyte]

Good Lord. Now I'll HAVE to homeschool. That way, there are no excuses.

[LiteKeeper]

:-( SPOTREP

[talleyman]

"Welcome to Peterburg - oops, forgot you can't read this..."