We've rightly insisted that our children learn the basics, and that parents know what their children have learned through individual student testing. To allow our kids to compete with Asian and European students, the budget provides funding to increase the school year by seven instructional days. That will bring to kids in every district a school year of at least 180 days of classroom instruction. And if our kids have not learned what they must know to compete in this increasingly demanding job market, we must not do them the serious disservice of pretending that they have.
Social promotion is the worst form of false kindness.
Much is written and spoken about the importance of self-esteem to a child's success. It is important. But self-esteem must be earned by performance. It's not a government grant. We must end social promotion.