The Oregon Governor signed into law a bill allowing students to graduate without essential skills (reading, writing and mathematics). In my opinion this bill hurts everyone. With this in effect, having a diploma is meaningless. If not everyone is required to show they have learned the essential skills, then that diploma means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
Employers would not know if a person has these basic skills. You may say, "they filled out a job application so they know how to read and write". If they didn't fill it out in front of the employer, this may not be true since someone else could have done it for them.
New Oregon Law Suspends Graduation Testing Requirement
The following screenshot is from the above PDF of the Oregon Senate bill.
These skills are not only needed for a job, they are needed in everyday life. If someone can't read, then how can they read a recipe, a newspaper, manuals, medical information or instructions for anything? Without writing skills how can they fill out a job application or any other paperwork that is necessary for life? If they can't do math, then how do they keep track of their own finances? Someone else may not always be there to help.
According to The Epoch Times in the first linked article above...
"Charles Boyle, an aide to the governor, told the paper that suspending the proficiency requirements will benefit 'Oregon’s black, Latino, Latina, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, tribal, and students of color.'"
This bill was not entered into the public record right away either. If this bill is helpful, then why was it (presumably) hidden? Sounds like they weren't in a hurry for the public to find out. This was signed on July 14th but not entered into public record until July 29th.
According to USnews.com "The bill was not entered into the legislative database until July 29, a departure from the standard practice of updating the public database the same day a bill is signed."
Lowering standards will not help anyone, even those people mentioned. If they honestly wanted to help students they would find a way to make sure they were able to learn these needed skills. If their excuse is shutdowns due to COVID, there is a huge flaw with this thinking. They are talking about high school students. They should already know reading, writing, and math. COVID is not an excuse for not having these rudimentary skills for someone in high school.
Thank you for reading.
(The images are public domain from pixabay.com.)
