Some state legislators are trying to kill a standard measurement of how well our kids here in Arkansas are doing in comparison with those in other states. It's a test that, as usual, goes by one of those abbreviations real people never use--just educantists and those who try to mimic their lingo, which is always a mistake.
The new exam is one that the Common Core uses. It's called the PARCC test--for Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, a title only someone deaf to the euphony of the English language would love. Naturally, our educantists do.
The politically volatile aspect of this new and better test is that it's part of Common Core, which is the kiss of death for the kind of folks who don't so much think about education as react--strongly--to even the slightest sign that the federal government might have a hand in it.
These people aren't so much thinkers as Pavlovians going off on cue. Which means that politicians who'll follow any crowd if it's big enough will be sure to echo its prejudices.
Even the best of politicians may pander to the crowd, like Bobby Jindal down Louisiana way, or even our own Mike Huckabee, a crowd-pleaser for sure. When it comes to Common Core, good old Michael Dale doesn't so much discuss it as hold a tent meeting agin it. What a pity that Mike Huckabee has this tendency to get carried away by Mike Huckabee. That's always the danger of being a spellbinder: You may spellbind yourself.
Now a handful of state legislators proposes to pull the rug out from under Common Core by nixing this test. The other morning, while innocently driving down the road well within the speed limit, we heard one of these legislators being interviewed on talk radio, a medium made for the Rush Limbaughs and Elmer Gantrys amongst us. His reason/excuse for trying to kill this new and better exam? This time it's because . . . the test can be taken online. And the kids might get confused.
Perfect. That is, it's the perfect combination of "reasoning" that's both Neanderthal and Luddite. (A halfway bright Cro-Magnon would never stoop to that kind of non-sequitur.)
Trust us, lawmakers, if anybody has trouble with the online test, the kids will be glad to show state Representative Jones or state Senator Smith just how these things work.
Editorial on 02/21/2015