Recently, a group of 40 or so faculty members at the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University signed a petition requesting that the State of Maryland change its testing requirements for high school graduation in Algebra (concern is expressed about English as well, but these are primarily math and science professors). After reading about this in the media, I contacted one of the professors, Dr. Jerome Dancis, for more information. The short version of the story is that Maryland has reduced its requirements to the point where the so-called Algebra test requires little more than 6-th grade math, and doesn't even do a very demanding job of that. The pressure on administrators is great to do only what the tests require, so I guess we can be assured that few high school graduates will have more than a sixth grade education in math under these testing conditions. I am teaching college math in South Dakota, where presumably the standards are still a little higher. However, I am convinced, as are many other math faculty, that the erosion of math abilities is reaching critical proportions. People like Jerry Dancis have some idea what to do about it, if only the politicians and school administrators would listen. But, I don't know how much hope there is for that. It's true that in some places, the trend seems to have been reversed. California is one. But how long it will last is the question. We seem to be on a slippery slope of downward-moving standards. I have an idea that would work, if only we could find people to support it. It involves taking the control of standards out of the hands of politicians and school administrators. Who should set the standards? I think employers should. If a number of large corporations were to work together to set standards that are meaningful in the workplace, developing their own tests that would be a requirement for employment...then we would find that schools would have to adapt to meet the needs of the workplace. The employers would set the standards for an eighth grade education and a high school education, possibly with an intermediate 10th grade level included too. There could be subject standards and overall standards. Then for various job offerings, the employers could require that applicants pass the tests at a level relevant to the job. Actual achievement, rather than meaningless diplomas, would be the decisive factors. Schools that did not produce graduates that could pass the tests would be shamed into changing their ways.

If teachers are truly interested in travailing and birthing intelligent students, they should set the standards, but it's not always so. Some are just interested in coddling, brainwashing, and "liberating" children from their parents control. But I'm glad someone else out there wants smart children. I homeschool my children so they will be extremely intelligent, not so they can get away with being lazy. From what I understand, children used to get into America's first colleges when they were 14 or 15 years old. By then they had already mastered English and Latin and maybe another language. They already knew how to run a business by the time they were 20. If you've never read the "rules of conduct" by George Washington, written when he was 14, you should read them. It's shocking. Now, men of 35 years don't even live by them, much less our students. I'd like to see the standard raised so graduates know more than an 8th grader-can read well and speak good English.