Saturday, June 13, 2015

Phony Education


It was the middle of period 4 on a Tuesday when a monitor showed up at Mr. X's class asking the teacher to send Marta to her office immediately.  The teacher was a little concerned as they were reviewing for the regents and Marta was not one of the strongest students but let her go anyway.

Marta returned at the end of the class and Mr. X asked what happened.  Marta explained that she was failing health due to excessive absence (she had not been in class more than 10 times the entire semester) but could pass and graduate if she attended the two hour after school classes all week and made up 10 hours.  It seemed like a good deal.  Ten hours for a whole terms work.  The only problem was Marta had already missed the first two hours.  The counselor told her not to worry.  She could do something to make up the make up work she missed.

Marta will probably do something to make up the work.  Maybe she will hand in a project her friend did.  Maybe she will download a paper from the Internet.  Maybe she will just smile nice, who knows.  But, Marta will graduate.  The school needs to keep those stats up.

So, armed with a meaningless diploma, Marta will head off to college.  She will expect the same experience and will be crushed.  Another young person has been sent into the world to fail.

4 comments:

Chaz said...

How true that is.

Bronx ATR said...

A good friend is a college professor. Most students he has are completely unprepared. Many of the community colleges have become de facto high schools, re-teaching what should have been learned in high school.

Anonymous said...

Some community colleges are covering elementary level work.

Anonymous said...

If Administrators can obtain "sale" certifications why shouldn't students before them. Unfortunately those that can learn and be professional (doctors, lawyers, etc.) don't have to . The world of cheats, (technology and numbers) has allowed this to happen. I truly feel sorry for my future generations!