My letter to the editor that the Chronicle publised 08/02/06
August 2, 2006
Section: Opinion
WASL failures may create many societal problems
To the editor: I am writing to encourage the Chehalis and Centralia school boards to oppose the Washington Assessment of Student Learning as a graduation requirement. I attend Centralia College, so the WASL does not affect me personally, but it does affect my peers - my generation - directly.
I am not against quality education or having an accurate test to determine whether a student is ready to graduate, but the WASL is not an accurate test, and the pressure it puts on schools does not insure a quality education.
If I attended high school, I would graduate in 2008 (I am 16), the year that the WASL as a graduation requirement kicks in. According to Mothers Against the WASL, 58 percent of 10th graders failed at least one section of the WASL.
A high school diploma is a ticket to a great deal. It can make or break a student's future. To think of over half of my high school friends not graduating worries me and breaks my heart. How is denying thousands of students a high school diploma high-quality education?
Additionally, withholding funding from schools whose students do poorly on the WASL is ineffective and frighteningly classist. It is ineffective because funding is the only way a school improves, and withholding it throws a struggling school into a downward spiral. Doing poorly on the WASL leads to less funding, less funding leads to doing worse on the WASL, etc.
It is classist because the students who have the resources to get extra help - money to pay tutors, etc. - are the rich and middle class. On top of this, because a large part of low-income students are also people of color, the WASL also contributes to racial oppression.
Imagine that I am in high school and do not pass the WASL and, therefore, do not graduate from high school. I will most likely obtain a low-paying job because that is what is available to people who do not have a high school diploma.
When I have children, I will not be able to provide the additional academic support my child needs to pass the WASL because I am low-income. And why exactly am I low-income? Because a couple decades ago, I failed the WASL. It is easy to see how this is another downward spiral that anyone can get caught in.
I don't want to see my friends fall into this cycle. I don't want to see 58 percent of my generation fall into this cycle.
Newt Stremple,
Chehalis