Democratic Gov. Kate Brown of Oregon has signed a bill into law that allows students in the state to graduate from high school without having to prove they know how to read, write or understand math.
The Oregonian reported that Brown signed Senate Bill 744 on July 14 with no news release and without informing anyone outside of her office about her decision to sign the legislation.
The new law says that “a student may not be required to show proficiency in Essential Learning Skills as a condition of receiving a high school diploma during the 2021-2022, 2022-2023 or 2023-2024 school year.”
It also requires that the state Board of Education “[r]ecommend changes in legislation or administrative rules that will reduce disparities and ensure that every student will be on track to earn one of the high school diplomas offered in this state.”
The bill equates to a multiyear suspension of current graduation requirements.
Why? Well, equity, for one. That’s not to mention COVID.
Brown wasn’t interested in commenting on signing the bill to make educated people in the Marxism capital of the country less educated.
She did, however, have an aide attempt to justify the move.
Charles Boyle, Brown’s communications director, said in a statement emailed to the Oregonian that dropping requirements that prove people should be able to graduate will help the state’s “Black, Latino, Latina, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, Tribal, and students of color.”
gov’s office: “suspending the reading, writing and math proficiency requirements while the state develops new graduation standards will benefit ‘Oregon’s Black, Latino, Latina, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, Tribal, and students of color.’” https://t.co/Ir0JiwtwFs
— Ryan Chittum (@ryanchittum) August 10, 2021
“Leaders from those communities have advocated time and again for equitable graduation standards, along with expanded learning opportunities and support,” he said.
Boyle didn’t explain how not knowing how to read will serve minority kids as they become adults ready to navigate life.
This, of course, raises an important question: Why even have schools to begin with? Why not just give every person a college degree at birth?
We know that a great many schools across the country only encourage graduation so they can justify their annual budgets. But in most cases, the students leaving those schools with diplomas are capable of at least understanding basic communication and hopefully are able to handle their basic finances.
We can’t be sure in the years to come that young people from Oregon will even be able to read. We’ll be left to assume that left-wing teachers simply shoved critical race theory down their throats until they aged out of high school, until these young people prove otherwise.
This law essentially nullifies the hard work of students who will work to earn their diplomas.
It serves no cause, other than making the state’s population dumber — and maybe that’s the point.
Oregon is already arguably the national epicenter for the uneducated, the aggrieved and the politically radical. It’s difficult to imagine a scenario in which this doesn’t strengthen the numbers of those who just spent a year attempting to torch downtown Portland.
Could lawmakers have done anything more blatant to assist these people in feeling more self-righteous while they attempt to bring down society?
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.