It is no secret that everyone has their own way to fix education. Ask anyone and they have an answer. Some say that private education is the answer, or a public education system that is closer to Europe or China. These varied opinions make their way to the state, and eventually some of those are turned into potential laws. Everyone wants to improve the experience that out kids have while they spend 13 years in school, so we naturally build laws to improve their experience.
A recent Star Telegram article talked about a few laws that are on the table to help with education. The article talks mainly about a minimum grade law. This is a new law that was implemented for this school year and mandates that there should not be a minimum grade forced on teachers by a district. What is that you ask? Well, a good example is that you have a kid take a test and get a 25. They have scored a 25 on everything and get an average of a 25 for the grading period. Some districts use to mandate that you give that child a 50 or a 60 so they have a chance to pass the class. This extends even above tests and goes to progress reports, report card grades, and even final semester grades. Before this law was passed it was impossible to get below a 50 in a class for the 1st or the 4th grading period in my district. Teachers are divided on whether this is a good thing, but a minimum grade was the policy at most districts for a long time . Districts have challenged this law and taken the state to court to prevent this from applying to tests, report cards, and progress reports. Now the state has a law on the table that says you cannot force a teacher to give a minimum grade on anything.
Districts are pushing back, they are passing their own regulations to allow students to retake tests to get that coveted 70. Your failure rate has always been important, but you are counseled if it is to high, and ask to create an intervention plan for the failing students. These get around the issue, not requiring a minimum grade, but label you as a "bad teacher" if you fail to play by the district rules. Should we enact these regulations at the district level to protect the kids from teachers that are out to get them?
Why do districts go through the trouble; why do they not let the kid's fail? The answer comes down to parents. Texas passes a law that says that it is not a requirement to have minimum grade and a kid can get a 25 in a class and fails that class. The teacher has a class full of kids that did not turn in a research project and fails 25% of the kids in her class. The district then has to deal with the parents. The most popular phone or email response by a parent is "why is my kid failing your class he or she has never made less than a B in any class before." If you go to a store and buy a TV and it does not work you talk to the salesman. If he cannot help you, then you go up the chain until someone can. Parent's use this same tactic with their kid's classes. It is at this point that instead of fixing the issue and pushing education that most districts give up and put sanctions on teachers avoiding the issue of failure entirely. I love random statistics, so let me throw one out there now. 25% of kids that start college actually finish it. This was a study done by the College board to tout the importance of having kids in at least one AP class. (If you want the study I can send it to you.)
We have become a nation that has asked not "what did I do," but "why did you do that to me." Kid's do not ask "what can I do to be better," but instead "why did you fail me." Parents call assistant principals, academic deans, and teachers to call them out and declare them bad at their job. I think that everyone should have a chance to turn their life around, to become someone better, but it is a delicate balance between a way of redemption and one of excuses.
Thanks for reading, check the article out as it some other laws in it that are insane!
Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another.
Gilbert K. Chesterton
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