Thomason Tracts

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Or they could stay exactly as hard to win

January 25, 2008 · 4 Comments

Diplomas may become harder, easier to win for state high school students- al.com

That just about covers it, right?

Categories: Great Moments in Headline Writing
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4 responses so far ↓

  • Del // January 30, 2008 at 5:11 pm

    “Distance learning: All students, except those in special education, would be required to take at least one distance learning course during their four years in high school.”

    I’ve been mulling this over ever since you posted the story, Mac. What could possibly be the rationale for this decision? I must conclude that it’s to enrich somebody or other. And I don’t mean “educational enrichment.”

  • Mac Thomason // January 30, 2008 at 5:34 pm

    Probably. I could make an argument for this system, that it would allow access to programs that the students don’t normally get a chance at, but realistically it looks like kickback time.

  • Del // January 30, 2008 at 6:58 pm

    The system itself, sure. But requiring every kid to participate, sorry. Unless it’s “we have to get our money’s worth out of this equipment.”

    I really have been thinking about this story for days—the business of the bottom-rung diplomas becoming easier to get while the “elite” ones require ever more. We’ve got kids getting out of school who can’t do basic business math (just look at the success of those ripoff rent-to-own places if you don’t believe that). Meanwhile, my kids are dissecting cats—cats!—and consulting the MLA style book as they add footnotes to their sophomore-level English essays.

    Just more evidence of the growing stratification of American society, perhaps. Or rather, the return to such stratification after the brief egalitarian dreams of the mid-20th century.

    (Letting them test out of stuff they already know, though, like the German example in the story, or the ridiculous “business technology” class they require now—that’s just good sense. )

  • Susan // January 31, 2008 at 2:15 am

    “…(just look at the success of those ripoff rent-to-own places if you don’t believe that)…”

    Hear hear. Or the mortgage crisis. I fumble frantically for the mute button everytime I see that annoying ad “People are smart.” No. No, they’re not. That’s how you people make money. Predators.

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