While bachelor of arts degrees from institutions of higher learning have become irrelevant thanks to the lowering of admission standards and the stratospheric approval rate of federal subsidized student loans, the teaching profession has taken another shot across the bow.
The vaunted New York State Board of Regents crafted a resounding statement in effectively removing literacy as a necessary skill in the teaching profession, and opening the door for minorities and previously unqualified candidates to set foot in the classroom. The Blaze reports that the stunning development stems from the Board’s decision to phase out the appropriately named “Academic Literacy Skills Test” based on the historically poor performance of blacks and latinos, in maintaining diversity within school faculties. Liberal Pace University professor Lisa Soodak, attempted to justify the questionable logic of scrapping the test with this gem of a quote.
“We want high standards, without a doubt. Not every given test is going to get us there,” she said. “Having a white workforce really doesn’t match our student body anymore,” Soodak added.
In just one line Soodak is able to illustrate everything wrong with the current and alarming trends of the primary education system. In our new world progressive order, one who cannot read and process the newspaper is the next English teaching champion of the neighborhood. Apparently, race is now a recognized teaching credential and more important than the actual ability to teach and manage classroom. Maybe, in the next decade the state will begin recruiting minority bi-polar sex offenders to instruct PE or an honors class. We can only hope for the sake of diversity.
Have our dear education leaders given up on reading and writing as necessary tools in the future shock world of digital prevalence and technology powered by artificial intelligence? Probably not. As the current viscous cycle spurred by the voracious appetite for grant monies at the higher education level is fueled by the level of enrollment at two year and four year colleges, lenient enrollment standards pervade. In realty, it is all about the might dollar. High school administrators push students towards higher education to staunch a budget crises, while universities need increased enrollment to cover funding channels. Ironically, the majority of undergraduate degrees being awarded are outside the realm of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and require a certain level of reading comprehension and writing skills. This leads to a glaring lack of skilled and qualified candidates entering the workforce. While trade school is supposedly not a politically correct concept, in the real world the country needs dedicated workers to contribute to a growing economy.
Read the Blaze story here.