UNBELIEVABLE – AT 11:53 A.M. ET:   Sometimes you read something and think it must be a fake story, a misprint, a journalistic prank.  I'm afraid this one is dead serious.  From the New York Post: 

Does New York’s Board of Regents care if teachers can read? If so, then why is it set to scrap the literacy tests they must pass?

At its meeting Monday, the board will vote on eliminating the Academic Literacy Skills Test, which is designed to measure prospective teachers’ reading and writing ability. It’ll also consider lowering standards on another test, called edTAP, which requires teachers to show their skills by videotaping their lessons.

Why drop the bar? To make it easier — especially for minorities — to become teachers. In 2013-14, just 48 percent of blacks and 56 percent of Hispanics passed the literacy test, versus 75 percent of whites. To fix the problem, the geniuses at the board would simply scrap the test.

But that means potentially unqualified teachers may be let loose upon New York’s kids — including minority kids. And what’s especially scary is that once teachers are certified and have tenure, it’s virtually impossible to fire them.

“We’ve now abandoned or watered down the teacher evaluation process, and now we’re lowering the bar for entry certification as well,” says Manhattan Institute education-policy expert Charles Sahm.

“This is a literacy exam,” he adds. “If you’re going to be a teacher… this is a criteria you should be able to meet.”

COMMENT:  What a fraud.  When I was growing up in the New York City school system, we had teachers who could diagram an English sentence.  Now, it appears, some "educators" are perfectly fine with teachers who can barely read an English sentence. 

What happens to the kids?  It's obvious that a lot of people don't care.  What counts is group solidarity.  You don't need high reading skills to be stuffed in a bus and carted off to a street demonstration.

March 7, 2017