August 13, 2021

When I taught Composition courses way back when, I most enjoyed the opportunity to raise student awareness of biases in writing through their research assignments.  We spent many hours talking about how to read sources and look for subtle signs of bias.  We started with the obvious, choosing generic newspaper or magazine articles where editorial or authorial choices about placement of information, corresponding pictures, and/or inclusion or exclusion of key information showed students how infrequently information can be conveyed without some kind of bias.

I thought about all of this today when I responded with appropriate left-leaning outrage to this headline from my YAHOO! feed: "Oregon governor signs bill ending reading and math proficiency requirements for graduation."  (You can read the full story here.) As you can imagine, as quickly as I was linking to the full story, I was opening up my website control panel to start my rant about the continual dumbing down of America.

The story's first full paragraphs certainly didn't disappoint (nor did the rather somber-looking photo of Governor Brown at the top of the story).  Right off, YAHOO! reports that "Oregon Gov. Kate Brown privately signed a bill last month ending the requirement for high school students to prove efficiency in reading, writing and arithmetic before graduation" (emphasis mine). 'That witch,' I immediately thought, 'sneaking the bill through without any scrutiny from the public.'

In case I missed that subtle reference to 'privately,' YAHOO! goes on to say that the Democratic governor "did not hold a public signing or issue a press release regarding the passing of Senate Bill 744 on July 14, and the measure, which was approved by lawmakers in June, was not added into the state's legislative database until more than two weeks later on July 29."  My outrage grew: the complicity across the board to keep this information from the public domain. It took this reporter two weeks to find out about this key legislative regulation that will make Oregonians dumber than before!  FOIA the bastards!

Let's drag in the Secretary of the State, who, we are told in paragraph 3, "is responsible for updating the legislative database," but whose lackey in doing so "was experiencing medical issues during the 15-day time frame."  My oh my, the convenience of that little detail.  Public, what do you want us to do?  Deny someone's FMLA just because you need to know the law???

Then in paragraph 4, the hammer falls but not on the nail head readers expect. The governor's spokesperson is quoted as saying the bill "gives us the opportunity to review our graduation requirements and make sure our assessments can truly assess all student learning . . . [while] in the meantime, it gives Oregon students and the education community a chance to regroup after a year and a half of disruption caused by the pandemic."  Wait, what?  The bill supports appropriate student learning assessment?  The bill is an acknowledgement of what graduating students have been robbed of, not subjected to?

Yep, paragraph 5 -- well after the hyperlink to a story about an Oregon county restoring a face mask rule for all, almost certainly clickbait for a public not interested in reading any more details about this out-of-control governor, as well as just before the suddenly large and ubiquitous "story continues" button for anyone crazy enough to want to read more details -- that is when we get the truth:

"The bill . . . suspends the proficiency requirements for students for three years" (my emphasis).  Don't you think "suspension" and three-year time limits are important information up front? Sure, there is still some controversy regarding that suspension of the requirements, which the YAHOO! article eventually covers: are you sacrificing standards or are you accepting that unfair advantages and disadvantages have come into play with school districts unable to maintain the same educational environment through a period of mandated virtual learning, mandated masking, not-mandated masking, excessive absences because of illnesses, and so forth? I hate to tell you, but this is a pretty compassionate bill.

This is the great unknown about COVID's effect on education.  We have belabored prior to the pandemic about a lack of grit among many college students, the inability to stare down difficulty, disappointment, and potential failure to come out a better person.  In essence, COVID robbed even more kids of that opportunity to develop grit, and waiving those requirements only perpetuates the "every-participant-gets-a-medal" mentality that seems to sap grit.  However grit needs that opportunity desperately, and it would have been nice to acknowledge that complex argument at the beginning of this story.

In the end, if these kids are not meeting a reading proficiency, then they are likely not meeting a critical thinking proficiency.  They might be the very people to read the first 1/3 of this article and walk away in disgust at the political machinations of a governor. Let's hope Oregon (and the rest of the country) can get on the other side of the pandemic and restore that level of reading, writing and arithmetic proficiency.  Our country depends upon it.

A final note: the article actually originated with the Washington Examiner, not easily seen at the top of the YAHOO! page where the logo is in tiny font. However, it's abundantly clear at the end. Linking to it shows YAHOO! reproduced the story in its entirety. I was disillusioned enough that a website that features news alongside horoscopes and clickbait stories related to celebrities I have never heard of; quadruple my disappointment to see these biases pretty much linked to a reputable news organization.

Then again, their mission is apparently to "make sure you're always in the know about Washington's latest exploits."  Never mind.