In Baltimore, an unusual powwow; University of Maryland, Baltimore County President Freeman A. Hrabowski III met with the Maryland state board of education and proclaimed the K12 standards to be "weak:"
U.S. schools, including those in Maryland, aren't expecting enough, Hrabowski said. Algebra standards are especially weak, he said, so much so that his university and many others are forced to give remedial help to students who should have been prepared in high school...
Hrabowski, who had been invited by state schools Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick to discuss "the importance of high standards and supplemental education," urged the board to hold fast against what a major federal report 21 years ago called a "rising tide of mediocrity."
"I realize it takes time," he said, "but you mustn't give up or lower the bar for some students."
The next part makes me want to send Hrabowski love letters:
"I realize it takes time," he said, "but you mustn't give up or lower the bar for some students."
That's a message Hrabowski has been spreading around the country for years. The translation is that African-Americans and Hispanics cannot be judged by lower standards simply because they don't perform as well as their white counterparts on standardized tests.
"Stop saying the tests are biased," he told the state board. "It's racist to say blacks and Hispanics can't do well on these tests."
Hrabowski is an African-American mathematician who (a) earned his PH.D. at age 24, (b) wants black students to do well and to spread the idea that "it's cool to be smart", and (c) wants a return to strong discipline in the classroom. And there's more:
Hrabowski is unapologetic in his defense of tests. When opponents of the SAT, for example, tee off on its purported bias against minorities, Hrabowski replies that he has been writing SAT test questions for years -- and that minorities can, and many do, ace the SAT. Hrabowski is the only college or university president I know who brags about the SAT scores of individual students.
"If you went in for an operation," he asked the state board, "would you want a surgeon who hadn't passed the test?"
Yep, I'm definitely sending him a mash note or two. In addition to being smart AND right about testing, he's pretty easy on the eyes, too.
Posted by kswygert at March 31, 2004 01:10 PM