To the Editor:
Three or four years back, an Albany area newspaper front-paged a proposal by our State Education Department. Some minority students, it was said, were having trouble passing Regents exams to qualify them for a Regents diploma upon graduation.

Therefore the proposal was to grant Regents credit for gym classes. Seriously? Regents credit for vaulting over a pole or throwing a basketball?

Whether this proposal was ever enacted has never been announced. But a year or so later, State Ed came up with yet another proposed alternate to Regents exams for the same reason. A Times Union headline trumpeted that in place of Regents exams, students could produce projects designed to demonstrate their “creativity” in subject areas such as science, math, English, and history: songs, poems, drawings, theater. 

Again — seriously? A dance about quadratic equations in place of the ability to solve them? Rapping about plate tectonics or the Bill of Rights in place of the ability to explain them in coherent sentences?

Again — whether this proposal was ever put into practice has never been formally announced.

And to my knowledge, New York State United Teachers had nothing to say about proposals that are designed to graduate young people who have poor skills in reading and writing, cannot do high-school level math, and know little about history and science.

In short: They are unemployable in all but the most menial, low-paying jobs.

This is what New York State taxpayers are paying tens of million of dollars for? Some might call it child abuse.

In the past week, local television stations and newspapers have been reporting on serious disciplinary issues at area schools resulting in two cases of return to “remote learning” (what an oxymoron!) and in one case the suspension of forty-six students for issues involving discipline.

And the questions arise: Who would want to send their children to such schools? And who would want to teach there?

Everyone with whom I have ever taught — regardless of their political affiliation — has agreed on one point: If a student is not getting support to do well from his or her peers or parents, it is highly unlikely that any amount of money thrown into the schools for computers, gym facilities, auditoriums, or even laboratories is going to produce excellence.

All too often over the years, when State Ed announced it was “raising standards” — the exact reverse was happening to increase graduation rates and present the appearance of improvement in students’ intellectual abilities.  And every teacher knows this to be true.

Every kid attending school in New York State has a right to an education that will open doors, not close them — in a safe and secure and nurturing environment — and the taxpayers deserve nothing less for the gigantic amounts of money being appropriated from them.

Michael Nardacci

Albany

Editor’s note: To earn a Regents diploma, New York State high school students must score 65 or higher on five specified Regents exams and must also have earned 44 credits in specified subjects including 8 credits each in English and social studies, 6 credits each math and science, 2 credits each in world languages and arts, 7 credits in electives, 4 credits in physical education, and 1 credit in health education.

Local and Advanced Regents diplomas are also options.