In this episode of "What Could Possibly Go Wrong?..."
As Kamala Harris continues to embrace her "campaign of joy," the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) will embrace the “enjoyment of education” over standardized testing in the 2025-26 school year.
Not to be a downer, but "joy" doesn't win presidential elections, and "educational enjoyment" over an objective measure of academic merit doesn't prepare students to compete in the real world.
Oh, wait— logic and common sense. Anathema to the left. My bad.
Nonetheless, the (LAUSD) voted 4-3 last Tuesday on a resolution that would allow ten schools to opt out of standardized tests and test preparation.
Far-left LAUSD President Jackie Goldberg said the resolution stipulates that once the schools “develop and pilot innovative, authentic, rigorous and relevant” assessments, the schools “will be excused from any standardized testing with the exception of state and federally mandated assessments.”
Uh-huh, sure.
Look, when you already embrace the idiotic concept that "educational enjoyment" is a better idea than measuring educational acumen, you've already lost. Besides, Goldberg also declared that the move was a blow to “corporate America.” Can some liberal explain to me how a blow to corporate America is a good thing for future job seekers? I'll wait.
George Washington University Law School Professor Jonathan Turley had more than a few thoughts about the ridiculous move.
We have previously discussed how schools have been dropping the use of standardized tests to achieve diversity goals in admissions. That trend continued this month with Cal State dropping standardized testing “to level the playing field” for minority students. I have long been a critic of this movement given the overwhelming evidence that these tests allow an objective measure of academic merit and have great predictive value on the performance of students.
Many colleges and universities are returning to standardized testing after the much-acclaimed abandonment of the tests for a more “holistic approach” to selection.
However, public educators have continued to lower proficiency requirements and cancel gifted programs to “even the playing field.” The result has been to further hide the dismal scores and educational standards of many public school districts.
How many times through the years have we seen left-wing politicians and activists call for "leveling the playing field?" The implications of that disastrous belief come with multiple assumptions on the left.
Let's be real. Lowering educational requirements, opposing standardized testing, and dropping graduation requirements and college admission requirements clearly suggest that some students lack the capacity to achieve educational levels that other students can.
The "soft bigotry of low expectations" couldn't be more blatant, yet say it out loud and you'll be called "racist" and worse. As a result, we're expected to give in to the illogical "emperor's new clothes" fallacy. Sorry, no.
Turley further nailed it:
Goldberg lashed out at the “testing industry” which tends to expose the continued failure of public education to give these students a fighting chance in society. Rather than look at their own failures over decades to significantly improve scores, Goldberg said that she “hoped” the resolution would “begin to change how we look at student assessment.” In other words, students would be assessed without looking at how they actually perform on tests with other students.
Tests, it appears, are just a buzz kill for teachers and students alike: “Because the whole goal of life became not the love of learning, not the enjoyment of education, not the exchange of ideas, but whether or not your school could move up on its test scores. For at least 20 years, I have found that repugnant.”
What's "repugnant," Ms. Goldberg, is not only your perpetuation of a demonstrable failure, but also the damage you want to do to students — simply because of your left-wing ideology.
Goldberg declares on her website:
California is the world’s fifth richest economy. There are 157 billionaires here who pay almost nothing in taxes. There is no excuse for why New York spends $29k per pupil while we spend $16.5k. It’s time to tax the great wealth in this state and re-invest in our children!
In other words, in Goldberg's mind, it's more about increasing school budgets than improving scores and the education of students. Yet, she now pushes "educational enjoyment" over educational success.
ALSO READ:
Harris Show Us How Much She Hates Merit: Vows to Dumb Down Federal Jobs and Stop Requiring Degrees
Parents Defending Education Drops Another Disturbing Report About Chicago Schools
Leftism: it never ceases to unwittingly make a mockery of itself.
