I appreciate all the effort that has gone into developing the proposed
graduation requirements, and I think the current proposal is an improvement
over the earlier version. However, I continue to believe the graduation
requirements should be more rigorous. More academic courses should be
required. More math should be required.
Let me compare the current "core" requirements of Moscow High School to the
current "core" requirements of the NCAA for athletes seeking to play sports
at a Division I school. I bring up this comparison not because I think the
NCAA should be a standard, but because the NCAA standards were designed, I
think we all know, to allow all but illiterate high school students to be
able to play sports in college.
1. The NCAA requires four yeas of English as does MHS.
2. The NCAA requires two years of math, as does MHS, but the NCAA requires
that those classes be Algebra, Geometry, or a higher course for which
Geometry is a prerequisite. MHS does not require Algebra or Geometry.
3. The NCAA requires 13 units, or the equivalent of 26 MHS credits in
their "core." MHS requires 31 credits in the "core", but 6 of those credits
would not meet the NCAA requirements for an academic core course (P.E.,
Economics, Health). In other words, the NCAA requires more in the way of
"core" courses than MHS.
4. Of the additional 6 credits required by MHS, all could be courses that
do not meet the NCAA requirements for an academic core course. In this
comparison, MHS "core" requirements are also less rigorous than the NCAA.
5. Both the NCAA and MHS require a minimum 2.0 average in "core" courses.
Clearly, MHS graduation standards are below those minimal standards
currently required for athletes wanting to compete at NCAA Division I
schools. I think this speaks for itself.
The current discussion of graduation requirements seems to be driven as
much or more by what we, the patrons of MHS, think the students are capable
of by the time they reach high school than by what they need by the time
they have completed 12 years of public education. I hope when this
discussion is over, a similar amount of effort can be given to looking at
the bigger picture. What do MHS students need to have learned by the time
they graduate from MHS and what kinds of changes need to be made in our
school system, our classrooms, and our curriculum, so that we can both
expect more of our high school graduates and be confident that they can
achieve more?