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Creating an Underclass
Jan. 14th, 2006 08:31 pmI've been reading articles about the California high school exit exam. It seems reasonable enough on its own: in order to graduate from high school, students must be able to pass a test in 8th grade math and 10th grade English. Since the students taking the test are in 12th grade, this would not seem unduly difficult. Moreover, the students would have, at minimum, two years in which they could be pulled up to the already low level of achievement required by the test.
The prospect of this test has been terrifying to both students and administrators. The pass rate for students who took the test last year was something like 38%. Someone has not been doing his or her job. Many students who have failed the test don't seem to realize that studying was supposed to be the most important thing in their lives, and that if they have failed school, they have come perilously close to failing at life. At the same time, it is the job of educators to assess and remediate; how have so many students managed to get through the system for so long without comment?
The principal of one school has attempted to paper over the program by issuing "certificates of completion." These are meant to stand in the place of the diplomas that would have been issued to students if they had passed the test. The principal has gone out to area businesses, urging them to accept the certificates in lieu of diplomas. But who would want to employ young people who have proven to be ignorant? Factory work is not exactly burgeoning in America, and the skilled trades are not overly accepting either; just try to get into the electrician's union in Manhattan if your father isn't an electrician.
The difficulty with telling it like it is: unemployable young people may form an volatile underclass which may turn to less-than-legal means of surviving in this economy. It is cheaper and more expedient for schools and students alike to assume success than to admit failure. The hidden costs of such a position will only become more apparent with the passage of time.
The prospect of this test has been terrifying to both students and administrators. The pass rate for students who took the test last year was something like 38%. Someone has not been doing his or her job. Many students who have failed the test don't seem to realize that studying was supposed to be the most important thing in their lives, and that if they have failed school, they have come perilously close to failing at life. At the same time, it is the job of educators to assess and remediate; how have so many students managed to get through the system for so long without comment?
The principal of one school has attempted to paper over the program by issuing "certificates of completion." These are meant to stand in the place of the diplomas that would have been issued to students if they had passed the test. The principal has gone out to area businesses, urging them to accept the certificates in lieu of diplomas. But who would want to employ young people who have proven to be ignorant? Factory work is not exactly burgeoning in America, and the skilled trades are not overly accepting either; just try to get into the electrician's union in Manhattan if your father isn't an electrician.
The difficulty with telling it like it is: unemployable young people may form an volatile underclass which may turn to less-than-legal means of surviving in this economy. It is cheaper and more expedient for schools and students alike to assume success than to admit failure. The hidden costs of such a position will only become more apparent with the passage of time.
