EDITORIAL

Stupid ideas seem to be the only things that are increasing in today’s world.

The latest lame-brained proposal comes from the New York State Board of Regents, which is considering lowering its standards for the sake of its budget.

Students in New York State are required to pass at least five Regents exams—in subject areas including English, math, global history and geography, U.S. history and government, biology, chemistry and earth science—in order to earn a high school diploma. Passing seven Regents tests earns a student an advanced diploma.

These tests are designed to ensure that schools across the state provide their students with high standards of education to keep these pupils competitive with their peers in other states and around the world.

But the Board of Regents is now facing a reported $11 million shortfall in this year’s budget, and there are rumblings that this deficit would result in the cancellation of many of these Regents exams. While members of the board dismissed the notion at a meeting earlier this week, the idea wasn’t entirely killed since no alternative plans for resolving their debt were selected.

The thought of dumbing-down or eliminating Regents exams for high school students is a truly stupid idea and removes the rewards of achievement for those who value education.

New York City graduates a little more than half the students who enroll in the public school system. The graduation rate for minority students is nothing short of criminal. The last thing the public school system needs is the elimination of exams aimed at challenging pupils and improving the quality of their education.

Mayor Bloomberg was dead right when he said, “We shouldn’t be cutting; we should be raising test standards.”

How can America expect to prosper in the years to come in a global economy if millions of students can’t attain a worldclass education?

Countries across the globe, including China, India and South Korea, continually increase their educational capacity and encourage their students to excel in their studies both in their homeland and abroad. More Chinese college students are getting their higher education at universities around the globe, outnumbering their peers from other countries who study abroad.

Meanwhile, as our federal, state and local governments face growing deficits, one of the first things on the budget chopping block is funding for education. By contrast, billions are spent annually by each state to keep prisons open.

When all else fails in this country, we lower the standards for achievement. A case in point is a federal judge’s recent ruling that entrance exams for firefighters administered by the Fire Department discriminated against minority candidates.

Thousands of people of all races and backgrounds took the FDNY exam and passed. Instead of ordering that the test be dumbed-down, why not improve the quality of education to ensure that all candidates have an equal chance of passing?

All of these things leave one to wonder if there are any standards left in this country. Judging by the politicians who represent us, the answer seems quite obvious.