Graduation requirements

This is just passing the “minimum basic skills test” that most HS now require for graduation. Our schools have state tests to pass certain grades to continue on ... I believe 3rd grade and 6th grade Math and English tests are mandatory to advance to the next grade.

In general, I think that it is important not to have people graduate HS with a diploma who cannot read, write, add, subtract, multiply and divide. They are not prepared for any real world job (they cannot fill out a job application, for starters).

 

“ May choose” are the key words here.

These are options above and beyond “minimum requirements”. I think that they are a great thing. The ability of students in HS to begin to take classes that interest them and lead towards a field where they can actually have a career is a great option. In Germany, for example, they have always had an education-internship partnership where students were exposed to theory and practice in read world industry skills.

Here in our Florida schools, they have started “Academies” which are specialized fields of learning that students can apply for if they desire.

• One option is the STEM Academy where students work in classroom teams studying “Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math” and work on team projects involving drafting, robotics and engineering. They get a notice on their HS Diploma noting that they have taken advanced training in Robotics &Engineering and have an opportunity to take college courses in HS towards an AS at the Community College.
• Another option is the Performing Arts Academy where students take electives in Dance, Music and Theatre and put on public performances in a professional Theatre as well as work with local Theatre Companies.
• There is a Teaching Academy where students take elective classes to prepare them for careers as teachers and they get to volunteer as teaching assistants in local elementary schools (often mentoring and reading to struggling students).
• There is a Graphics Arts Academy where students learn Adobe products (Acrobat, Illustrator, etc) and take the Adobe Industry Certification Tests like any other professional and become certified in commercial design software.

Each school specializes in one or two academies as well as the regular curriculum. Students apply for school choice to attend the academy offered at another school.

 

I agree.
I suspect that a HS diploma from Dade County (Miami) may not have that requirement.

There is also a “HS certificate of attendance” which means that you attended 4 years but did not meet a graduation requirement. (Often awarded to the special needs students).

 

VA Officials May Axe Advanced Math Classes, Critics Cite 'Equity' Push

"Virginia Education Officials May Axe Advanced Math Classes, Critics Cite ‘Equity’ Push"

Firstly, should the title above read:
"Virginia Education Officials MIGHT Axe Advanced Math Classes, Critics Cite ‘Equity’ Push"?

California Considers ‘Equitable Math’ Because Goal of Getting Correct Answer is ‘Racist’ | Human Events

"California Considers ‘Equitable Math’ Because Goal of Getting Correct Answer is ‘Racist’"

Ben Carson blasts progressive 'equity' push as 'what we used to call racism'

"Ben Carson blasts progressive 'equity' push as 'what we used to call racism'"

I might be drawing the wrong conclusion, but it seems our educational system is accommodating the lowest IQ students.
Now, what race would that be??

 

The system abandoned the old “track” system (where students were divided into classes based on their expected futures ... “college”, “trade school”, “McDonalds”) and placed everyone together for a while. It was an epic fail. Now schools have a mainstream of students with two “specialized” paths added alongside it.

At one extreme, they seem to have added a lot of teachers, classes, programs, wings and even entire schools dedicated to “special needs” which runs the gambit from physical and learning disabilities, to violent behavior issues.

At the other extreme, there is a push to get the brighter students into college courses and technical courses for job training as soon as possible. At the upper end of this group, there is a “collegiate” program open to HS Sophomores that allows them to skip the last two years of HS and take all college courses in their Junior and Senior year so they can graduate HS with an AA and transfer directly to a University. There is even a “Cambridge Program” HS option geared for HS students that plan to attend Universities abroad.

So the education distinction between people and opportunities is as unequal as it has ever been. Students with “Tiger moms” can succeed and students that just want to relax and go with the flow can still take up space. Troublemakers can still attend until they get charged as adults and go to a different “state university”. Things really are not that different academically.

Culturally, the world has lost its mind.

 

We have been talking about humans, so my guess would be the human race.

If you were attempting to insinuate that there is an ethnicity that has a significantly lower IQ than others, then you need to be more explicit with your ethnic prejudice.

 

My response:

No insinuation intended. Test results stand on their own Prejudice or lack thereof does not change an inconvenient fact.

Race (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
"The concept of race has historically signified the division of humanity into a small number of groups based upon five criteria: (1) Races reflect some type of biological foundation, be it Aristotelian essences or modern genes; (2) This biological foundation generates discrete racial groupings, such that all and only all members of one race share a set of biological characteristics that are not shared by members of other races; (3) This biological foundation is inherited from generation to generation, allowing observers to identify an individual’s race through her ancestry or genealogy; (4) Genealogical investigation should identify each race’s geographic origin, typically in Africa, Europe, Asia, or North and South America; and (5) This inherited racial biological foundation manifests itself primarily in physical phenotypes, such as skin color, eye shape, hair texture, and bone structure, and perhaps also behavioral phenotypes, such as intelligence or delinquency."

" Ethnicity, conversely, is defined as a sense of common ancestry based on cultural attachments, past linguistic heritage, religious affiliations, claimed kinship, or some physical traits (1998, 19). Racial identities are typically thought of as encompassing multiple ethnic identities (Cornell and Hartmann 1998, 26). Thus, people who are racially categorized as black may possess a variety of ethnic identities based either on African national or cultural markers (e.g., Kenyan, Igbo, Zulu) or the newer national, sub-national, or trans-national identities created through the mixing of enslaved populations in the Americas (e.g., African American, Haitian, West Indian)."

 

So, what ethnicity has “the lowest IQ students?”

Anglo/Caucasian? East Asian? South Asian? West Asian? Sub-Saharan African? Indigenous American? Indigenous Australian? Pacific Islanders? Inuit? Another?

And since intelligence is dependent upon both nature and nurture, why would it be wrong to “accommodate” students who have had less nurture than others? A structure education helps a student make the most of the student’s gifts.

 

May may be the right word, as it sounds like they can and just might do it. But overall, all of this accommodation nonsense seems more than a bit suspicious and not just racial. "An enemy has done this."

 

Not sure what that's supposed to mean, but recognizing disparities and dividing and teaching students accordingly is precisely what is being denied in all of this new "accommodation" mess. Those articles clearly indicate that students are not being allowed to succeed according to their capacities—the opposite of accommodation.

Now, are you siding with those advancing the ridiculous notion that teaching math problems have right answers is racist? Before such idiocy takes root, they should demand such advocates publish what the Math sections on an ACT and SAT would look like.

 

You can find the answer to your question; "So, what ethnicity has “the lowest IQ students?” for yourself.

What Is Intelligence?
There is no agreed definition or model of intelligence. By the Collins English Dictionary, intelligence is ‘the ability to think, reason, and understand instead of doing things automatically or by instinct’. By the Macmillan Dictionary, it is ‘the ability to understand and think about things, and to gain and use knowledge’.

Who is responsible for students having had less nurture than others?


(Definition of nurture | Dictionary.com
to feed and protect:to nurture one's offspring.
to support and encourage, as during the period of training or development; foster:to nurture promising musicians.
to bring up; train; educate.)

When a sperm donor and willing incubator produce offspring, I suspect their offspring might have less nurturing than the offspring of a married couple who work each day to provide for their child.

"And since intelligence is dependent upon both nature and nurture..." What is the percentage each contributes?

The Intelligence Debate: Nature vs. Nurture - Psychminds
The debate surrounding the heritability of intelligence is one that has been going on for centuries, starting with Sir Francis Galton in 1869 and the publication of his book, Hereditary Genius.

My nature was to go out and play after school My parents had a different expectation. Their expectations prevailed! Thank God for good, demanding parents.

 

That is not what is meant by “nature”. I learned to read before I was 4 years old and was reading on a second grade level by the time I started kindergarten. Not all children are born with that innate capability. At the same time, the wiring in my brain that controls reflexes and hand-eye coordination left me unable to ever successfully hit a baseball. Other people are born with different innate strengths and weaknesses. That is “nature”.

My mother taking the time to teach me to read and the hours wasted trying to teach me to hit a baseball ... that is “nurture”.

Success requires both.

 

You insinuated that you had an answer, now you either don’t have the courage or knowledge to respond.

If a family is poor and there is no social safety net, both parents (if there are two in the home to begin with) likely have to work, leaving less time for nurture. Many homes do not have two parents because of death of a parent or the dissolution of marriage for legitimate reasons of safety or moral influence. It has always been this way.

Moreover, when, through unequal financial support and attention to schools in ethnic or religious minority areas, students do not get the nurture from teachers in their earliest years, they don’t have the foundation for higher level work.

Yet they didn’t give you the courage to explicitly state your prejudices/convictions.

You, sir, are the one who raised the issue.

 

My mother expecting me to obey her and do my homework was nurture, in conflict with my nature!!

 

No.

I was simply responding to a viewpoint that suggested that “race” is a determiner of intelligence (“IQ”). I don’t believe that nonsense.

 

I'll let the test scores and academic achievement, or lack thereof, speak for themselves.

In my opinion, education standards in this country are being lowered to achieve the goal of an equal outcome. That is, all being equally ignorant.