I agree with Alice Cooper, School's Out Completely

...Completely out of touch with the Real World! Yesterdays Ragister ran an article about a growing number of Iowa high school students that need more than four years to graduate. They interviewed Judy Jeffrey, Director of the Iowa Department of Education. She equated it with college students needing more than four years to earn a degree and that Iowans need to change their perception that all students can finish in four years. WHAT?!?! I can have sympathy for college kids taking longer, they actually have to PAY and that means some have to WORK. I will even give you that changing majors may force someone beyond four years. However, the actual crust of the article is how we're continuing the dumbing down of America! Or, as my wife Chris has said for years, DEVOLUTION! Elizabeth Celania-Fagen, The Director of High School Programs for the Des Moines Public Schools, actually said "We felt like it was a sort of walk of shame for students who didn't earn enough credits to be reclassified as freshmen again. We want all students to work towards their goals, and if that takes them a bit longer, that's O.K. But we don't want them discouraged by processes and procedures that we have". I see part of the problem, the people running our education system are more interested in Fiberal everyone needs to feel good about themselves drivel! Celania-Fagen and fools like her have watched too much Stuart Smalley on Saturday Night Live...and that's NOT O.K.! Connie Cook, Hoover High School Principal & former Des Moines City Councilman, said "So what if it takes them five years?" That's what I call striving for excellence! It seems contrary to the DMPS Mission Statement, " The Des Moines Public Schools equips students for life by challenging each one to achieve rigorous standards in academics, arts, and career preparation". There should be an uproar over this, but there's too much apathy...especially from parents. I also don't believe teachers deserve more money if this is part of the end result. Money is a key motivator in this story. Buried near the end of the article is this paragraph, " Iowa law allows students to remain in high school until they are 21, which means districts continue receiving money from the state to educate the students." I think this anonymous quote sums it up, ""There is no tyranny on Earth that cannot somehow be justified by the words 'public safety' or it is for the children."