Just what business wants – Cheap Low Paid Labor

In response to concerns raised by federal regulators, Los   Angeles Unified School   District and eight other school districts have filed an amended application for a waiver from a federal law requiring that all students be proficient in English and math by 2014.  This was reported on May 29, 2013 in the Los Angeles Daily News.  The article went on to say that Rather than using No Child criteria to gauge a school’s achievement, CORE has proposed its own accountability system, called the School Quality Improvement Index. Sixty percent of a school’s score would be based on standardized tests and graduation rates, 20 percent on absenteeism and suspension rates, and another 20 percent on campus “culture and climate.”

Yes, “culture and climate” has a 20% value, what ever that means, should be considered rather than the ability to communicate in English.

Meanwhile Scores from the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), 15-year-old students in the U.S. performing about average in reading and science, and below average in math. Out of 34 countries, the U.S. ranked 14th in reading, 17th in science and 25th in math.

Between 1995 and 2008, for example, the United   States slipped from ranking second in college graduation rates to 13^th, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Paris based organization that develops and administers the PISA exam.  Of 34 OECD countries, only eight have a lower graduation rate than the United States.

Our next door neighbor, Canada, ranked 4^th in Math and 6^th in Science.

Meanwhile the LAUSD and other school districts representing over 1 million students want a waiver on proficiency in English and math.  If granted, the United   States is on its way to a two class society.  Those with English and math skills and everyone else.  Everyone else will be working at McDonald’s, Target, making beds in hotels, or other low paid blue collar jobs.