Submitted by Jim Lydon, Feb 22, 2008 09:57

My bother just retired from an 80% minority California HS that made the decision a few years ago to require each graduate to meet the minimum course requirements for admission into the Univ of California. This is not a walk in the park. They dropped all vocatiuonal courses as part of the reform. A significant percentage of the student body was/is incapable of doing the work required mainly because they are ill-prepared, or speak English as a second language. The drop out rate skyrocketed. If you want to make people feel bad about themselves, this is a great recipe. Contrast this with the pride of graduating from HS, which is a real accomplishment for the lower quadrant of these kids, who then can go on to a JC if they need more advanced work related training in the future.

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