The modest increases in standardized test scores mean virtually nothing. They've been over used and the results have over time, been interpreted far too provincially by both Arlene and now Mr. Smith to distract attention from the far more pressing and intractable issues of climate, safety and not until recently, a morbidly expensive and top-heavy central administration. A generation ago, these issues weren’t part of the discussion. When I was in high school two-thirds of my life ago nearly ALL of us were proficient in reading, math and yet so much more. To be sure, we didn't get to be so perfectly. The mistakes we made in frequency and magnitude even back then far, far exceeded the usual allowance. But we made fixes and not excuses. So even in four years, everyone in my high school class grew in moral and intellectual stature so that we graduated on time because of these. Our teachers asked everything of us and though not many of us I suspect knew it at the time, it’s what we demanded ourselves. Moral as well as academic development then was the centrality of our presence as students and is our business as teachers. Now thirty years later, the simplest things are thought to be miracles. History begins to explain how this happened through displacement of priorities and through the S.R.C.'s unbridled myopia and support of Dr. Ackerman's morally relativistic operating philosophy and her unwillingness to treat people fairly. Addressing and redressing this history of how these have played out would have made for a stimulating, informative and substantive piece. As ever, I confess myself disappointed.
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