Comments on Linda Murray: Districts should adopt the a-g curriculum
Yeah, every high schooler needs to master (with a "C" grade or better) Algebra II to be successful in life ... ha! Only academic elites would reach such a silly conclusion. I doubt many of them could pass a Trig exam, today, and yet that hasn't hampered their success, so why should we require it of all high school pupils?
The "A-G" mandate movement has struck large and small districts all over the state, and the San Jose statistics painfully reveal the failure of this costly experiment (their disappearance rates are dramatically high since their A-G mandate, and they are passing kids with "D" grades). They are selling false promises to kids, all the while shutting down their CTE programs that could actually help the 60% who don't qualify for CSU/UC admissions become productive citizens.
In 1987, three-quarters of California's high school students were enrolled in CTE programs in their traditional campuses; today, only 29% have that same opportunity (a historic low).
It's time to get real about public education and help all kids, regardless of color or socioeconomic background, gain the knowledge and skills necessary to become successful, whether their aspirations will go through a 4-year college or not. Let's not redefine failure and introduce even more kids to it by artificially increasing graduation mandates that are devoid of realistic expectations and workforce realities. - Fred Jones
The Educated Guess is a forum on education policies in California and Silicon Valley. It is funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and sponsored by the Silicon Valley E Read more
About John
John Fensterwald is a journalist at the Silicon Valley Education Foundation,
which he joined in September 2009. For 11 years before that, he wrote editorials at the Mercury News in San Jose, with a focus on education. Read more
The College Puzzle Stanford Professor Emeritus of Education and Business Administration Michael Kirst explores policy issues relating to the preparation for and success in college.
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- Fred Jones