That’s a term often used in sports give players with lesser capabilities the opportunity to compete on the same level as those with greater capabilities. Golf is an excellent example. It’s a way that Bob the duffer can play a round with Jim, the club pro, and they can compete on somewhat equal terms. If Bob is at the top of his game and Jim is having an off day, even though Bob’s score is in the nineties and Jim’s is in the seventies, after Bob applies the handicap to his score, he and Jim can determine that Jim buys dinner…
That’s great for a game. In real life, things are a bit different. Like education. Let’s look at the lowest common denominator in American education, the high school diploma. Absent a few people on either end of the bell curve, one acquires a high school diploma by attending school for twelve years and meeting some minimum standard of performance that would ideally indicate the absorption of certain levels of knowledge in language, mathematics, science and social studies.
It was pretty simple concept. For years, a high school diploma = proficiency to degree n. Employers could depend on that. In America, educational competence and expected levels of proficiency could be correlated to grade levels. Employers knew this and made decisions to hire based on that set of capabilities, thinking that if the prospective employee could be required to perform math at a high school level, then the possession of the high school diploma was a suitable indicator that he possessed those skills.
Not any more. A few years back I was involved in an industry group that provided training for people who wished to enter the construction trades. Part of the entrance procedure for students was the taking of a set of tests to determine proficiency in language and math. Another part was the possession of a high school diploma. An applicant for training as an electrician or instrumentation technician was REQUIRED to be able to read and do math to the EIGHTH GRADE level. I was surprised to find out how many prospective students could NOT meet that standard, even though they had the diploma.
I talked with a friend of mine who was in human resources at one of the major petrochemical plants in the area. He tells me that yes, the high school diploma is the minimum qualification for applicants, but they’ve long ago learned that it meant nothing in regards to the applicant’s actual capabilities. Instead, they administer their own battery of tests to determine if the applicant has the proficiency to perform the mental work associated with the job.
Now here’s where I am with all this: If I was a high school graduate and I found that I did NOT have skills to read at the eight-grade level, I think I’d be looking for a good lawyer to file the first of a million “Billy Bob Smith vs. Podunk Board of Education” lawsuits. Think about it. What if you take your car to the mechanic to fix the transmission, and he rolls it out the door and tells you it’s done, and you drive around the corner and it doesn’t go any more? Don’t you have recourse?
That’s what many school systems are doing with kids. They’re taking tax dollars and shuffling youngsters through twelve years of motions and announcing that those kids are educated and giving them a piece of paper attesting to the fact. And when that kid comes to me looking for a job and I tell them that they need to understand a little basic trigonometry and have the ability to read and understand books without pictures on every page, and they can’t do that, I’m basically telling them that they pretty much wasted twelve years.
Maybe it’s like that old joke: “Being married to ol’ Maude has given me three of the happiest years of my life. Unfortunately, we’ve been married thirty years.” Maybe what we’re doing to some kids is giving them three good years of education, except they have to sit in classrooms soaking up resources for twelve.
I work in a technical industry. I care not a whit that my prospective employee enjoyed an educational environment that was supportive of her ethnic consciousness or made him feel an important part of his community. If they cannot grasp the functionality of the ratios between the sides of a right triangle or cannot read through a 500-page manual to understand a piece of equipment, then they’re of no use to me. They may be perfectly suited to selling lingerie at JC Penney’s or shilling sound systems at Dood’z Xtreme Wheelz. They may be a lot of things, but they do NOT have the skills they should have held upon leaving high school.
Except I’m a dinosaur. No Child Left Behind only works if you slow EVERYBODY down. Before long, that “reads at a 8th-grade level” thing will disappear under a mountain of verbiage bestowed upon us by the educational establishment, replaced by the sort of verbosity one expects from a group of people educated past their intelligence.
It’s still possible to get a good education from public schools. There ARE good teachers out there. conversely, though, it’s also possible to bebop your way through twelve years and know just barely enough to read the comics if somebody leaves a newspaper in the lunchroom.
The addition of mandatory testing for schools is a two-edged sword. It leashes really GOOD teachers. That’s a bad thing. It short-stops sub-par teachers and schools from promoting and graduating students who cannot meet the minimal standards of the mandatory test for promotion to the next grade or for graduation. That’s a good thing.
However, there is a growing opposition to the idea that a student has to pass a test before graduating. Maybe, just maybe, we need to start educational “handicapping”. Got a high school diploma? Good! We’ll call that a “10”! Got a high school diploma and you passed the exit test? You get an extra piece of paper and we’ll call that a “12”. Your future employer may be interested.
And all that is about high school, folks. When we throw college on the table, the discussion gets really interesting. Of course, in the active worship of the gods of diversity, some special groups can sidestep screening requirements like the SAT and ACT scores. Remedial classes for college students are a fact of life as many colleges have not yet watered down the curriculum to the point that a mid-level high school graduate can function in college. Fortunately for us, though, college education in the hard sciences still seems to be pretty stout, so our new engineers and doctors and scientists and accountants are on the ball, but those other things? Well, I’m not so sure…
UPDATE: Apparently great minds think alike. The inestimable Chrissy touches on the subject of education and social promotion.
“No child left behind” has become no child held back instead. We need to start all over and rebuild the system. Why is 12 years the magic number to graduate from High School? How long has 12 years been the magic number, hasn’t mankinds knowlege expanded to a degree that maybe the number of years should be 14? Kids are being taught or they attempt to teach kids things in fourth grade that I didn’t get until I was in high school. Can someone give me a reasonable explanation why we are teaching kids in grade school about computers? Don’t get me wrong, computer can be used as wonderful teaching tools but when they are used as a short cut to basic rote memorization requirements then we have issues. Some things just take time, learning to spell, ( which i suck at), basic math, basic english composition and reading can not be rushed. There is no magic pill, what worked fifty years ago, works today. This is tough stuff for young minds, and they have to absorb and understand the basics before they are moved on to higher level tasks. When you have a child in middle school who can’t do basic multiplication tables or can’t read then something is seriously wrong with the system or the child. If its the system then fix it, if it is the child then learn to live with it, not everyone is going to be lawyer and hamburgers need frying.
I don’t see mandatory testing as a bad thing. I do think it is a complete waste of time to have an exit exam. What is the point after 12 years? I would be very happy with good comprehensive exams at the end of each year to demonstrate that a student learned enough to progress. That would never be accepted because it would get in the way of social advancements in school.
I also don’t see the concept of testing being a “leash” on good teachers. Good tests would simply require teachers to teach well. I don’t know how many times I have heard math teachers complain about having to “teach to the test”. If a math test is geared to the right grade level what the heck else was the teacher going to use that time for?
All though the AFOQT is supposed to screen applicants for the military, and it does ( or at least did ) take a higher score to enlist in the USAF ( plus a high school diploma )than in the Army one would suppose that Air Force enlistees would have at least the eighth grade reading ability. Not so or at least it was not so when I retired and that was in 1983! Just about every base had a remedial reading class and it stayed full with a waiting list.
I have turned down so many applicants for a job that I can’t remember them because they couldn’t fill out a job application and if they could not read I could not use them.
You and I came from the ‘old school’ where if we didn’t learn to read we didn’t make it to the next grade. I kinda think society would be better off if we went back to that concept. Failing might hurt the kids self esteem..hell, it should! But learning to succeed in an endeavor will build that self esteem a hell of a lot betterthan social promotions.
Have a look here:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/118xfsjy.asp
Ireland, the UK, and most former UK colonies have had multi-tiered secondary education exit qualification for decades (since 1947 I believe.
They work, they’re fair, they’re effective, and they tests students in multiple areas, with specific results.
A student may take up to 8 courses, and must take at least five for the GCSE (english, math, science, a foreign language, and a history or social science). They study these courses for two years before the exams, and electives can be changed in between years.
There are leaving certificate exams for each of the courses, to meet the GCE (general certificate of education) requirements (prior to 1988); or GCSE (general certificate of secondary education) or GNVQ (general vocational qualification) requirement (post 1988). The GCSE and GNVQ have the same requirements for english, math and science, but the electives are different. You may take both GCSE and GNVQ courses at the same time.
You can in theory sit an examination for any subject; but schools will generally only administer the tests to you if you took the course.
These are often referred to as “Ordinary Levels” or “O-Levels”; though technically in the UK they are no longer called that. A student will say they have achieved “6 o-levels” when they have passed 6 of the tests.
The minimum O-level qualification, passing the exams for the core courses; is roughly equivalent to a 10th grade education.
From there, the student can end their education; or if they received passing grades on five or more GCSE exams, continue with additional optional certifications for courses taken on an elective basis, called “Advanced Levels”, or “A-Levels”. If they took O-level vocational classes, they can also take A level vocational classes; and again, you can take both types simultaneously.
There is another more difficult leaving exam for each of the subjects taken, and for each test passed, students speak of having achieved an a-level.
Again, in theory, up to 8 courses may be taken, though that is extremely rare. More than six requires special permission; and most students take 4.
The A level is considered to be equivalent to a slightly higher level than an American high school diploma. Perhaps similar to the freshman year of college; though more like a junior college.
If a student so desires, instead of studying for two years and taking an Advanced level test; they may take an exam after one year of further study in a subject and earn an Advanced Subsidiary level. Earning 4 AS levels is considered roughly the equivalent of a high school diploma.
In order to gain entrance to a university, it is generally necessary for a student to have passed at least 3 A-levels. To enter a top tier university you must pass at least four A-levels, and five or six are preferred; usually in, or related to the subject you wish to study in university.
The system is somewhat complex, with a lot of choices and options, and both the level and breadth of achievement are entirely dependent on the student.
Up until recently this system has proved very useful to employers and universities; because they could judge aptitude in specific areas, as well as general performance from which specific examinations the students had passed, and at which level.
Unfortunately, there have recently been issues with the tests being dumbed down to make educational performance appear better.
Personally, I think a similar system would be both workable, and useful here.
I grew up in a small town near Boston, Ma. where education was taken seriously. I recall there was a debate regarding the wisdom in funding a football team when the money might be spent better another place. Everyone who I graduated with could read and write along with doing basic math.
Where they fell down was that the school catered to those going to college and if you didn’t want to go to college then you weren’t important. I graduated in 1968.
The summer I graduated I went to New York State, drinking age was 18!! I recall that in NY you had to pass what if I recall correctly was the New York Regents Exam. The test was given at the end of your senior year and one had to pass to receive a high school diploma.
In 1977 I was working for a high school in California as a custodian while going to school myself for electronics. I was given 4 “disadvantaged” high school kids that were given summer jobs under some government grant. I found that 3 of the 4 couldn’t do basic math, figure change from a purchase!! I was shocked but that is typical today.
As someone who’s worked in the building supply business for residential home builders, I see the failure of young adults up close and personal. I’ve worked for three different companies over the last fifteen years and as the years have gone by, those companies have hired fewer and fewer high school graduates or 20-somethings for entry level work. The reason?
They simply cannot do the job. The entry level work is work…hard work and the late teens early twenties adult cannot do the work. Ask them to read a tape measure, and you’ll see a “deer in the headlights” look. Ask them to figure boardfoot and they almost pout at the idea of having such a demand placed on them. Worse, most cannot speak English. The mush-mouth, slang-ridden, verbal stall tactics of “ah”, and “you know”, make any communication practically impossible. They last about a month then quit. Some have even had the nerve to demand more pay, or some promotion that they haven’t earned or are qualified for, then use that denial as the excuse to quit.
Right now, at my current employer, all of our yard workers and production people are either late thirties or older Americans or young hispanics. Hispanics are not “stealing jobs from Americans”, the younger generation is giving those jobs away by default.
We’re currently dumbing down our government run school systems. The colleges and universities are next. When are businesses going to have to dumb down their standards to just fill the holes in their staff?
EAF
There is or was a vo-tech HS in SE Mass a few yrs ago (ex-wifes alma mater) and they offered other than normal courses. There was diesel mechanics, small engine repair, arbor science, small animal vet tech, large animal vet tech, etc…This was in addidtion to the normal state mandated courses.
Maybe this model should be offered at all schools, so those that don’t want to go to college right away, can learn a trade.
Just for an idea on how far education has fallen, check out this:
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/quizzes/8thgrade_test.cfm
Imagine having to actually have grasp of the facts, and have the ability to solve these problems with no calculator, etc…
Eric, you might be thinking of Blue Hills Regional Vo-Tech in Canton.
Tom, I grew up in Milton, and graduated from Milton High.
I graduated from high school about an hour south of MC in the early 80s. I had an 8th grade reading level in the 3rd grade and by the 8th had a post grad reading level (this all from being a bookworm). I did not write an essay until I learned how in college (remedial English) this after 4 years of high school English. They didn’t teach trig and I still struggle with it. As an adult I own my own ignorance, it is up to me to learn things that I should have been taught in school. I took the hardest prep courses that were offered and was barely remedial level in college. “Teaching to the test” is a good thing for the majority of students. At least there is a standard of learning that must be achieved.
Eric and Chris…. I grew up in Norwell, when I heard vo-tech I thought of the one in Hanover. Got a sister in Kingston and another in West Wareham near the Cape Cod Canal.