OPINION:
The Cherry Creek school district in Colorado has announced it will be doing away with valedictorian class awards as it joins others around the country more interested in student “feelings” than academic accomplishments. This decision is nothing more than another push to remove all expectations, standards and requirements from public schools.
After all, how better to prepare these children for life in the real world than by advancing the idea that no matter how little one learns, wide and wonderful world will hold a place of equity and high-pay employment for them? Never mind that American school students will be competing for such positions against other graduates for whom family, study and learning have always been the central focus.
Having already surrendered the idea that there is such a thing as a “best” environment for young, still-developing minds, professional educators continue to dumb down classroom content while inflating grades. That students should have a good night’s sleep, rise early, eat a healthy breakfast and have someone at home who supports teachers and requires the student to faithfully complete homework has been dismissed as outdated. In its place is the notion the latest clothes and electronic devices, as well as drug use and social media activities, are all any young person needs to succeed.
How far do American students have to fall in reading, writing, math and science before there is a groundswell for a significant change in direction?
H. LEE LAPOLE
Loveland, Ohio
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