The push to destroy academic standards in the name of “equity” must be pushed back on by teachers as much as parents. A group of teachers in Virginia is doing just that.
The Arlington School Board and Arlington Public Schools system are looking at eliminating late penalties for homework, eliminating extra credit, allowing an unlimited amount of “re-does” and retakes, and eliminating grades for homework. This is being done in the name of “equity,” the racist talking point among liberals in the education system that academic standards must be eliminated because minority students cannot achieve them.
Teachers at Wakefield High School are pushing back on it. In a letter to the Arlington County superintendent, the teachers wrote about their concerns. “We believe that these changes will impact student learning and socio-emotional development and growth in a negative way,” they wrote. “The changes, if implemented, will also result in the decline of high expectations and rigor in the classroom across all APS high schools.”
The dumbing down of schools is playing out in several Democratic-run areas. Oregon Gov. Kate Brown recently signed into law the elimination of the graduation requirement of showing proficiency in reading, writing, and arithmetic for high school students. California wants to eliminate accelerated courses for middle school students and deemphasize calculus while teaching social justice in math classes instead.
Parents can fight against these measures in elections, particularly at the local level, but teachers must make it clear how damaging these policies are. The United States already lags behind East Asia and Europe in science, math, and reading scores. Just as with the academic decay caused by virtual learning, teachers can see firsthand how dumbing down subjects hurts students and stunts their academic growth.
As the teachers at Wakefield note in their letter, “Families that have means could still provide challenging and engaging academic experiences for their children and will continue to do so, especially if their child[ren] are not experiencing expected rigor in the classroom.” As is so often the case, these “equity” measures widen gaps between groups rather than shrink them, and they do so by dragging students down.
Teachers across the country should be following the lead of the teachers at Wakefield. School boards and administrators should not be able to make a mockery of schools without teachers making it clear how damaging these policies are. Responsibility and merit are crucial parts of the education process, and teachers must help parents preserve them in the face of bureaucrats preaching about “equity.”
