Academia, Bizarre, Politics, Society

The New Math: Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal Solves Low School Passage Rates By Lowering School Standards

200px-LouisianaGovernorLouisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has come up with a sure-fire way to improving the performance of students in the low-ranked state: lower the academic standards so more students can pass.

Jindal has signed a law that creates a new and easier public school curriculum despite the fact that educators have objected that it will result in high school graduates with poor understanding of basic mathematics and written English.

Under the new law, eighth-grade students who are 15 years old and fail the mathematics and English sections of the LEAP (Louisiana Educational Assessment Program) test while to move on to the ninth grade. This reverses the prior state law that insists, quite reasonably, that you pass the eighth grade to get into the ninth grade.

This is called the “alternative diploma” program and passed the Louisiana Senate unanimously.

This is a brilliant idea. Consider all of the problems that we could solve by simply creating an “alternative” system — previously known as flunking. We could have zero drunk drivers, completely clean air, and no rickets. World hunger can be a thing of the past if Jindal simply defines a full nutritional diet as 200 calories a day.

It is all a matter of definition. No child will be left behind because no child can fail in Louisiana. Under the Jindal educational system, kids will soon be counting by thumping their feet on the ground. One does not have to know one’s ABCs — A and B will be sufficient (Cs are overblown anyway).

Of course, Jindal may be taking a lesson from Washington where failure is often redefined as success. The Bush administration repeatedly tried (and in some cases succeeded) in lowering environmental standards to show success, here and here and here.

For the full story, click here.

91 thoughts on “The New Math: Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal Solves Low School Passage Rates By Lowering School Standards”

  1. Gyges:

    You said “I think music programs have it right. No one says “no you can’t be in band, you’re not good enough.””

    I took that to mean that you agree with this building self esteem stuff. Everyone gets to play no matter their ability.

  2. A little more on topic: If you think the lowering of standards is about anything other then federal funds, you are barking up the wrong tree.

    I always loved the pun hidden in that turn of phrase.

  3. IS,

    Did you stop reading my post at the end, or keep reading imaginary stuff so that you would have a point to argue? I clearly was talking about school activities, and was responding to a post about school activities, in a discussion about schools.

  4. Gyges:

    I don’t think you want a “wader” doing brain surgery. This self esteem stuff is way out of hand. When I was a kid if you couldn’t make the team you joined intramurals or you played in the sandlot league.

    Have you ever seen the movie “Idiocracy”?

    A society must have competition and reward it’s winners to be able to move forward. Some people are going to fail and some are going to win. You cannot legislate equality of ability.

  5. GLSM,

    I think music programs have it right. No one says “no you can’t be in band, you’re not good enough.” They just have two (or more) levels, the talented (or willing to work harder) top band and the everyone can join band. I meet more people who when they find out that I’m a musician respond with “Oh I played ____ in highschool, I wasn’t very good, but boy did I love it.”

    Competition is great, but so is understanding that you don’t have to be good at something to have a great time doing it. Deep ends and shallow ends are not mutually exclusive.

  6. I think I started noticing something like this when my oldest was in elementary school. they would have these ‘graduation’ ceremonies where every kid got a medal or ribbon for something. Sure, there were ribbons for excellence in math or the kid who read the most books or attendance or for other accomplishments and then there were ribbons for exchanging oxygen to carbon dioxide, it seems. schools with cheerleading teams decided that any girl who wanted to cheer was admitted to the team regardless of whether she could clap her hands and say “ready, okay” at the same time. every kid who wanted to play little league was on the team even s/he could hot hit, catch, throw or run.
    the playing field became so level that kids who really worked hard at academics or sports never felt that their hard work was noticed in any real or specific way because the self esteem of kids who had no talent for sports and who did not apply themselves academically had feelings too and that their need for recognition was more important than their actual ability.
    there are some pools that do not have a shallow end, and should not have a shallow end and in some ways this brings us back to the discussion about grades, test scores and college/professional school admissions.
    my feelings about education in general are well-known here. students have to do the work. it is their job to go to class, do the assignments, pass the tests in exchange for a diploma. it is no different from the workplace where the employee has to show up, do his/her assigned work and is evaluated by his/her manager at the end of the year in exchange for compensation.

    but my question is this: is there really something so wrong with failure?

  7. Hasn’t Louisiana already lowered its standards by electing Jindahl as its Governor? Alaska? Texas?

  8. Yeah,

    I think I hate Bobby Jindal more than Fletch hated Tommy LaSorda.

  9. Dis splains evry thang. Dis is why we did not evacuate for Katrina. Wees couldnt reed da syines to tale us wich ways to go.

    Watt U call a deer that aint got no I’s?
    I got no I deer
    Watt U call a deer that aint got no I’s standin still?
    I still got no I deer

    Go Bobby Go!!!! who dat aint gone get no edumication

    I Remember being busted flat in B.R. waitn fur a train and I’s feelin faded as my jeans. Bobby thumbed a diesel down that rode us all the way to N.O. I pulled my harpoon out of my dirty red bandanna,
    I was playing soft while Bobby sang the blues.
    Windshield wipers slapping time, I was holding Bobby’s hand in mine,
    We sang every song that driver knew.

    Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose,
    Nothing don’t mean nothing honey if it ain’t free, now now.
    And feeling good was easy, Lord, when he sang the blues,
    You know feeling good was good enough for me,
    Good enough for me and my Bobby McGee.

    From the Kentucky coal mines to the California sun,
    Hey, Bobby shared the secrets of my soul.
    Through all kinds of weather, through everything we done,
    Hey Bobby baby? kept me from the cold.

    One day up near Salinas,I let him slip away,
    He’s looking for that home and I hope he finds it,
    But I’d trade all of my tomorrows for just one yesterday
    To be holding Bobby’s body next to mine.

    Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose,
    Nothing, that’s all that Bobby left me, yeah,
    But feeling good was easy, Lord, when he sang the blues,
    Hey, feeling good was good enough for me, hmm hmm,
    Good enough for me and my Bobby McGee.

  10. How do you repair a terrible school system, historically underfunded and limited by a political philosophy that is against spending money on anything but weapons, police and sops to industry? You elect Bobby Jindal and lower the criteria.

  11. Perhaps Jindal is a Jack Handey Deep Thoughts kind of guy.
    “Instead of having “answers” on a math test, they should just call them “impressions,” and if you got a different “impression,” so what, can’t we all be brothers?”

  12. Buddha: “Nice job, Gov. Ignorant Myopic Foolish Jackass and the bribe swilling incompetents in Baton Rouge.”

    Well said; well spoken.

  13. This actually is a good idea. It is far better to keep the students in school learning something than kick them out onto the streets.

  15. If they spell there name right do they get extra points? Well heck some would flunk out anyway.

  16. Why am I not surpised…. Here’s George Carlin for ya:

    (…) right away they start talking about education. That’s the big answer to everything. Education! They say ‘We need more money for education. We need more books, more teachers, more classrooms, more schools. We need more testing for the kids!” You say to ’em “Well, you know, we’ve tried all of that and the kids still can’t pass the tests!” “Ah, don’t you worry about that, we’re gonna lower the passing grades!”

    And that’s what they do in a lot of these schools now, they lower the passing grades so more kids can pass. More kids pass, the school looks good, everybody’s happy, the IQ of the country slips another two or three points, and pretty soon all you’ll need to get into college is a ***** pencil! “Got a pencil? Get the ***** in there, it’s physics!”

  18. Wow.

    For contrast, I’ve been to schools all over the country, but also I’ve been to Louisiana public schools. I didn’t think it was possible to dumb them down any further and even maintain the pretense it’s a school instead of publicly funded baby sitting. Way to go Bobby! I guess your plan is to keep a Neocon in state office by reducing the population into speaking in grunts. Pssst! If you make them too dumb, you eventually won’t have to worry with that pesky voting at all anymore!

    Nice job, Gov. Jackass and the half-wits in Baton Rouge!

    Correction.

    Nice job, Gov. Ignorant Myopic Foolish Jackass and the bribe swilling incompetents in Baton Rouge.

    This certainly explains a lot about that rebuttal speech . . .

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