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A Common Core I Can Get Behind
If you’re like me — and if you are, mental health professionals are standing by — you get a little nervous when the GOP is in power. At least when Democrats blow things up you get the luxury of feeling validated. When it’s our guys there’s a whole lot of “well, I’m not that kind of Republican.”
Living part-time in Tennessee — a state where the GOP dominates the legislative branch and a Republican sits in the governor’s office — that fear is never too far from my mind. So it was that I got a little tense when I heard that Republican lawmakers were thinking about revising the Volunteer State’s high school graduation requirements. But the result? Well, I can live with this. From The Blaze:
If high school seniors in Tennessee want a high school diploma, they could be required to understand the Constitution and U.S. history at least as well as legal immigrants seeking citizenship, under a proposal to be considered by the state legislature this year.
Further:
Tennessee House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick, a Republican, introduced legislation to require the state’s students to answer 60 out of 100 questions correctly on a civics test if they are to receive a high school diploma, News Channel 5 in Nashville reported. The test would be modeled after the U.S. citizenship test that immigrants take.
Sixty percent, by the way, is also the standard for passage on the immigration exam — though there 10 questions of the 100 are chosen at random and you have to get six right. I’d prefer a standard a little more exacting than a D-, but I’m not about to give this gift horse a dental exam.
As I’ve argued in the past, we’ve fetishized increasing the quantity of voters without paying any attention to increasing their quality. I don’t know why I’m supposed to celebrate elevated turnout from a citizenry where 71 percent of respondents failed a civic literacy exam administered by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in 2008. I have no desire to be governed by these people. Really, I don’t even want these people leaving their houses.
In a just world, passing the Tennessee exam would be a prerequisite for voting, not just receiving a high school diploma. But in a just world, I’d also be writing this from a yacht anchored off of Monte Carlo — so I’ll take what I can get.
Published in General
Troy,
100%.
Regards,
Jim
Troy,
How about a cold beer on a houseboat on Percy Priest Lake of a Saturday afternoon?
I read about the proposal in yesterday’s paper. It “sounds” good. We’ll have to see how it finally gets written into law.
Not to go in a different direction, but this is so true, it makes me wonder why there isn’t a: a better option and b: why we Republicans keep electing “those kinds”.
Is it too much to ask for this to become a federal requirement?
Yes, 60% is still under performing, but at this point under-performance would be a huge improvement.
I cannot like this enough! It is the redneck riviera of Nashville. Not that I’ve ever been on Percy Priest on a pontoon boat imbibing at 11 o’clock AM on a Wednesday in July or anything…
I think the proposal sounds like a great idea, and makes me proud to live in the great state of TN.
Yes, this sounds like a very good idea. Go, Tennessee!
I want to take the test and see how I do before I comment.
That’s just crazy talk. Although, I’m relieved to find out I’m not the only one saying it. Like, just today.
Do I win something? The yacht off Monte Carlo would be nice.
Just for fun.
Sorry to hear that your nerves are giving you the gyp. Get well soon!
Though I’m not surprised. I figured there had to be something wrong with you :-)
Troy – The local news ran a piece about this legislation featuring a high school teacher complaining this will mean even more “teaching to a test” rather than real learning. Sigh.
100%.
I miss the South!
I can’t believe that the first 10 amendments are not called the “Bill of Lading.”
A wonderful idea, but implementation will be tricky because the teachers’ unions will gear up their minions to use this as an opportunity to discretely proselytize for the liberal agenda while at the same time teaching the students just enough to pass the test.