Do the Math

A letter to the editor from a colleague at my school:

Graduation math
Let's see if lawmakers can pass the test

A driver's test does not include questions about pop music or nutrition; it determines if the test taker has the knowledge necessary to be a competent driver. A graduation test should determine if students have the skills necessary to be successful adults.

If we deny students a diploma because they can't find the center point of a line segment connecting (7,-2) and (-3,6) in a Cartesian coordinate plane, what are we saying? That they can't be successful adults?

Sure, we need more engineers, but we don't need everyone to be an engineer. We need chefs, too, but we don't need everyone to be a chef.

A coworker suggested an elegant solution. Require all legislators to take any graduation test and publish the results.

No, I wasn't the co worker that made the suggestion, but I am going to find out.

Flash