The Press of Atlantic City has an article today about the negative reactions generated by the new graduation requirements recently issued by the DOE. At the Vocational-Technical Schools Open Forum at last month’s New Jersey School Boards Annual Convention, representatives from both vocational and academic high schools lit into the High School Redesign Steering Committee’s new set of graduation requirements, which mandates that all graduates complete biology, chemistry, algebra 1 and 2, economics, four years of college-prep English, and also pass six new high-stakes tests.

One of the panelists, Frank Gargiulo, President of New Jersey Council of County Vocational-Technical High Schools, said

It is just unconscionable for the state to think that every kid is the same. Vocational schools have more choice. But under the high school redesign plan, they will be crushed, especially the shared-time programs.

And it’s not only the vo-tech reps who take umbrage at the newly prescribed curriculum. Apparently the New Jersey Math and Science Education Coalition opposes the algebra 2 requirement. Speaking for that group, Rutgers math professor Joseph Rosenstein said,

Most students take algebra II because colleges require it. What many students need is better mastery of algebra I and four years of math that includes actual applications so they don’t forget it by the time they graduate.

So what exactly is the DOE’s strategy? Are they pandering to the suburban voters who seek more rigorous high schools? Are they trying to eliminate vo-tech schools? What will this mean for our lower-performing schools where the vast majority of kid fail less stringent tests?

If the DOE’s interest is in consolidation of school districts, then standardization of graduation requirements eases the way a bit. If a course of study is preordained, then one could argue that location is less meaningful. What’s the difference what district you’re in if everyone is taking the same courses? And it’s politically correct right now to broadcast that every single child, regardless of ability or aspiration, is college-bound.

What’s that joke? A lawyer is at home one weekend and his toilet overflows. He makes an emergency call to his plumber, who unclogs the toilet in 20 minutes and hands the lawyer a bill for $200. The lawyer, astonished, says, “I don’t even get $600 an hour!” The plumber replies, “Neither did I when I was a lawyer.”