"As bad as the pandemic was for student learning," some education fads will make it worse, writes Greg Richmond, superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Across the country, schools are moving away from homework, grades, attendance and academic honors, he writes. "Numerous public school districts now prohibit teachers from giving students a score of less than 50% on homework," even if the student does nothing or turns in plagiarized work.
Parents who want a traditional education -- grades and all -- can turn to Catholic schools, Richmond writes. "As measured in last year’s National Assessment of Educational Progress, Catholic schools’ eighth-grade reading scores increased during the pandemic, while public school scores declined," he writes.
“If Catholic schools were a state, they would be the highest performing in the nation on all four NAEP tests,” Kathleen Porter-Magee, superintendent of Partnership Schools, a network of Catholic schools in New York and Ohio, tweeted in October.
Many parents want a safe, orderly school that respects their role in raising their children.
Fordham's Michael Petrilli puts succinctly: Education officials are "making dumb decisions in the name of equity."
Focusing on the needs of disadvantaged students is fine, writes Petrilli.
But there’s a right way and a wrong way to go about this. Leveling up is the right way. Leveling down is the wrong way. Expanding access and opportunity is the right way. Lowering standards is the wrong way.
Yes!
Sadly many of the Catholic schools have gone "woke" as well. I once interviewed with a local Catholic School that had a very good repuation and all they asked me about with diveristy and inclusion, which I thought rather ironic when I looked at the makeup of their student body (about 71% white paying essentially college tuition levels of money each year).
Hear hear.
--mrmillermathteacher