GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT – LEAVE IT TO SAN FRANCISCO TO COME UP WITH ANOTHER AWFUL IDEA – AT 6:40 P.M. ET:

Your tax dollars at work.  From the S.F. Chronicle:

San Francisco high school students, just months out of middle school, can start earning San Francisco State college credit this fall through a ninth-grade ethnic studies course.

None of that math, science or English stuff.

At a school board meeting last week, the head of the university's Ethnic Studies program also promised that students would earn up to six college course credits for the high school freshman course - a rare opportunity for a 14-year-old.

I can imagine how challenging the work will be.

The program is designed for students who might not otherwise be considering college as an option, said Jacob Perea, dean of the School of Education, who runs the Step to College program at San Francisco State.

"We're not really looking for the 4.4 (grade point average) students," he said. "We're looking for the 2.1 or 2.2 students."

Wait a second.  These are the ones who are going to do college-level work, at 14?  Am I reading this right.

Students cannot fail the class. They either receive a "pass" grade or are withdrawn from the course if it appears they cannot pass, Perea said.

Oh, so that's the trick. 

But can ninth-graders really produce college-level work?

Perea acknowledged that asking them to write at a 12th- or 13th-grade level could be difficult, but added: "I doubt that we've ever had a student come through the program who shouldn't have."

I'd be happy if they could write at their own level.

"I don't ever learn about the accomplishments and contributions of the people who look like me and the members of my family," said Balboa High School freshman Monet Cathrina-Rescat Wilson during public comment at Tuesday's school board meeting. "How can I know who I can be if I don't know who I am? Ethnic studies provides me with the foundation to learn who I am."

I'm sure she wrote that line herself.

Appalling. 

March 3, 2010