No longer will students graduating from highschool in Oregon need to be proficient in reading, writing, or math in order to graduate.
The Oregonian reported, 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.
The decision by the Governor has only recently made her decision public according to the paper. Law had been signed, but residents were unaware.
Charles Boyle, the governor’s deputy communications director claims that this effort will “Oregon’s Black, Latino, Latina, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, Tribal, and students of color.”
If these people are unable to proficiently read, write, and do math, it is not their skin color or ethnicity that hinders them. The poor quality of education holds them back.
Dropping the standard even further will only decrease the academic success of all students.
A problem exists. Students, according to the Governor predominately minorities are struggling to become proficient in reading, writing and math.
Rather than fix this issue, and make it easier for students to learn, the governor has decided to drop the bar all together and let uneducated youth graduate.
These students will be unprepared, and the failure of the education system will lead them to poverty.
In short, abandoning graduation requirements will certainly make it easier for students to graduate, but it will rob them of the tools necessary to fulfill a successful life and compete with others.