Too often, grades don’t match knowledge

The recent article on grade inflation won’t surprise anyone who knows how our students fair on basic achievement tests (“An explosion of high school honors grads is warping the college admissions game,” June 17). For those who don’t know, 67 percent of our kids don’t read very well and over 50 percent are deficient in math and science.

When over half of our students graduate with honors, while so many lack basic academic skills, what does that tell us about our education system? It tells us that we don’t have the information we need to judge the effectiveness of our schools.

It may be the best evidence we have that schools push kids from grade to grade regardless of their competence. This situation deprives our kids of a quality education while masking major deficits in our educational system.

Do you still wonder why so many young people flunk out of post-secondary school or aren’t employed? Or why remedial education is becoming a major cost center for our colleges and universities?

Dean Crocker

Manchester, Maine and Estero, Florida

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