The Answer Is We Don't Want To Know The Answer

Many BeeLine readers ask how I got write about so many different topics?

They ask where I get my ideas on what to write about?

The truth is that I continually see an endless number of things to write about.

The challenge today is that I find it harder than ever to write about the things I see because so much is deluded or depressing. 

I often have to stop and ask "how is it possible that people believe this is good for their country, their fellow man or the world?"

It feels like we are witnessing a battle of good and evil right before our eyes

It often seems that there are those who want to take everything that we have built in our society and drive it over a cliff.

There is no better example than this story out of Oregon which recently passed a law that suspends the requirement that any high school student must show proficiency in math, writing and reading in order to graduate.

This bill was actually signed into law by Oregon's Governor Kate Brown last month.

The state of Oregon will no longer require its students to demonstrate proficiency in math, reading and writing in order to earn a high school diploma in a bid to bolster minority students.  

Gov. Kate Brown signed a bill late last month suspending the state's 'essential skills' requirement for graduation for the next three years while its Department of Education seeks alternative graduation requirements.

Governor Brown and the proponents of the measure argue that not requiring students to be proficient in reading, writing and arithmetic will benefit "Oregon’s black, Latino, Latina, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, Tribal, and students of color".

"They don't test well."

Really?

Is it also not possible that they simply have not learned how to read, write and do arithmetic?

I guess the answer is that we don't want to know the answer.

Are these students really going to "benefit" by not knowing the basics of what is required to succeed in the real world?

It is almost impossible to comprehend the logic.

Why did slaveowners never want their slaves to learn to read and write?

Why does the Taliban refuse to allow women to be educated?

It is because without these basic skills you are beholden to a master. 

You are less able to think for yourself and have a desire for freedom.

You are totally dependent.

Oregon argues it is for only three years and (of course) blames the pandemic for which the suspension of this requirement began by administrative order before the Oregon legislature and Governor saw fit to make it law.

They have set a goal to find requirements that I guess will be "less racist" over the next three years.

As we start another school year (the third under the specter of Covid) I shudder to think of what the long-term effects will be of what we are doing to these young people.

Consider, for example, the reported grade averages in the city of Baltimore last year.

Source: https://komonews.com/news/nation-world/baltimore-city-schools-41-of-high-school-students-earn-below-10-gpa-07-15-2021

WBFF obtained a chart assembled by BCPS. The chart shows the average GPA for every high school in the city – freshman through senior. In the first three quarters of this past school year, according to the chart, 41% of all Baltimore City high school students, earned below a 1.0 GPA. In other words, nearly half of the 20,500 public high school students in Baltimore earned less than a D average.

What happens to the students who failed a course in Baltimore last year?

They are just moved on and up.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/27/us/baltimore-schools-failing-grades/index.html

School officials don't want any students to feel like a failure or to believe any punitive action has been applied to them.

The district said the policy was adopted in recognition of the struggles students have faced during the coronavirus pandemic. Chief Academic Officer Joan Dabrowski said it's meant to "avoid the punitive approach of failing students," according to comments during Tuesday's board meeting.

"This is not about a failure, but it is about unfinished learning and giving multiple opportunities, multiple onramps for young people to complete that ... learning," Baltimore City Public Schools CEO Sonja Santelises said. 

It is just "unfinished learning".

How many students in Baltimore schools had "unfinished learning" in at least one class?

63% failed at least one class.

Sixty-three percent of middle and high school students are failing at least one class according to Baltimore City Public Schools -- that's nearly 25,000 students out of the nearly 40,000 sixth through twelfth graders in the district.

 If you think we have problems today just wait until this demographic is ready for the work force.

Will they ever ready for the workforce?

Will they ever understand accountability and responsibility when this is how our school and public officials are preparing them for the future?

Our children are another casualty of the woke culture we live in today that has only intensified under Covid.

It seems delusional and depressing for me to see what is going on. However, when we are consistently sacrificing our children it almost feels demonic.

How can any of this be in the best long-term interests of these children?

How can it be in the best interests of our society?

What lies ahead is not going to be in anybody's best interests.