Submitted by Robert Vecci, Aug 30, 2007 14:17

We are taking about academic achievement, not physical fitness.

Tests, as we all know, have been "dumbed down" to accommodate the under-achievers in order to make them "feel better" about themselves and enhance their self-esteem. Actual performance has become secondary.

As an executive and professional, I look an any diploma issued by a large-city school district (including community colleges to some extent) with a high degree of skepticism regarding a student's basic math and reading skills. Let the so-called "socially promoted" students try to take the artificial self-esteem received from a dumbed down curriculum and try to meet expectations of performance and achievement in the private sector. They will be in for a rude awakening when they have a boss who is not a tenured teacher and does not have civil service and union protection. A boss, whose very job depends on the performance of employees. will not stand for or accept substandard performance as easily as the New York City public school system.

Alternatively, the graduates of New York City public schools can always become public school teachers and, later, administrators.

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