Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/566486
When I first read that the San Francisco Board of Education voted unanimously to give 107 students high school diplomas, even though the students has not met the requirements for graduation, I naturally assumed it was a case of educrats bend- ing the rules to boost graduation statis- tics. But when I looked at the situation more closely, the board's action was fair and made sense. The San Francisco board's vote was a response to the high-handed decision from the California Department of Education that suddenly canceled the required high school exit exam. Those 107 students from San Francisco International High arrived at the test- ing center only to find there was no test and no way to get their diploma, since state law requires passing the test before a diploma is issued. High school students can try to pass the test begin- ning as early as their soph- omore year and continue to attempt to pass for the rest of their high school career. The fact the vast majority of students taking the test fail it is a damning commen- tary of the state of educa- tion here. KQED reports, "According to state data, last summer 4,847 math tests were given with 1,286 (26.5 percent) students passing and 5,826 English Language Arts tests were given with 1,248 (21.4 percent) students passing." That's a quality control standard so bad it makes Chinese sheet rock manufac- turers look like the picture of high standards. Since students obviously can't pass the test, Califor- nia educrats are presented with two choices: Improve education so students are learning and not simply warming a chair, or change the test. Naturally California decided to change the test, and I don't think the goal is to make it harder. State bureaucrats decided to cancel "because the exam does not reflect the new state academic standards." Then, after ruining thou- sand's of seniors attempt to graduate, the department went to the legislature to ask them to retroactively remove the testing requirement for three years so the monkeys at the state department of education can type up a new test. In other words, in typical bureaucracy fashion, out— of—touch educrats happily put the cart before the horse and were shocked the ride was so dangerous. No one bothered to think that suddenly changing the rules of the game in the 4th quarter might be controver- sial for the players. When informed about the problem with students plan- ning to go to college state Deputy Superintendent Keric Ashley breezily told the San Francisco Chronicle, "Our hope is that the few stu- dents who find themselves in this situation will only have to defer their dreams of attending the college of their choice for one semes- ter. In the meantime, there are other options available to these students, including our California Community Colleges. I received excel- lent preparation at my local community college before at- tending university." Which is the way elite bu- reaucrats dismiss the con- cerns of the little peo- ple whose lives they've dis- rupted. So for at least once the San Francisco board has done the right thing. Con- gratulations. Try to make it a habit. Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan, a political consultant, and the author of "The New Reagan Revolution" (St. Martin's Press). Send comments to Reagan@caglecartoons.com. Follow @reaganworld on Twitter. MichaelReagan School days, school days Cartoonist's take Trumpomania: Though many of us cannot conceal our distaste for the man, one won- ders who can possibly attest to being an ad- mirer of his, let alone being a supporter? A recent pro- file in The New Yorker reveals "He has made an incredible surge among the Tea Party supporters" or so says a Mon- mouth University poll. "Be- fore Trump announced his candidacy, only 22 percent of Tea Partiers had a favorable view of him. A month later, that figure has jumped to 56 per cent." The poll concludes with "His supporters hail from two groups: voters with no college degree…and vot- ers who say that immigration weakens America." With all the adverse cov- erage of Trump versus the fawning devotion of his ad- vocates, I wonder if the brou- haha has registered suffi- ciently with our local col- umnists for them to take a stand? I therefore propose a challenge, early on in his campaign for the President, to each of us self-aggrandiz- ing writers, and ask if they find merit in what Trump says, and do they think he has a snowball's chance in hell of winning the nomination and eventually achieving his goal as President of at least some of the people in this country? To help fellow colum- nists make up their minds, when TIME did a Trump pro- file, this is how some read- ers replied: "To win, he'd have to change a lot of minds," "Trump's popularity is a fleet- ing message from voters sick of talking points when they would like a candidate to stand up and give plain an- swers in plain English." Oth- ers decried his "xenophobic (haven't seen that word in a while) remarks." The only thing I can find in common with him is that he is a fellow blowhard, and al- legedly a teetotaler like me. However, I would not vote for him. And yet, Jon Carroll, the esteemed liberal columnist in the SF Chronicle, has voiced his take on the matter dif- ferently: "I have no thoughts about the future of the Trump campaign. He could quit to- morrow and reveal an affair with Miss Universe 2011, or he could start wearing paper hats and start tossing $1,000 chips into the audience. But I do know that he's tapped into something that politicians don't want to believe. They're the problem. Not the current government or the current op- position: them. Run against that." ••• Speaking of columnist, in this week's "William Tells" was a lengthy paean to actor and generous State Theatre contributor Tom Hanks. I'm certain Bill's remarks were heartfelt, and warm relations with one of our greatest liv- ing actors is a feather in any- one's cap. However, I am en- vious of their apparent close relationship. Looking back over my long life of a critical relationship with my fellow men (and women) I can find no parallel to the Cornelius/ Hanks bliss. I mean, I've got a couple of signed letters from the late columnist Herb Caen, but that's about it. ••• When the SF Giants lose a game, and I appear disconso- late, the Missus pats me on the arm and says, "It's only a game." My outlook brightens with her astute observation, but after the Giants-Dodgers series in LA this past week, I still maintain my dislike for the Dodgers. They are a sorry lot with the largest payroll in baseball…and their players have a penchant for grand- standing when none is mer- ited. With their best pitchers on the mound, they managed to win 3 games out of 3. As each game was won by only one run, you can't call it a sweep, can you? However they were playing in their own sandbox, so when we play them again, in San Francisco, we will certainly prevail. ••• I read with great sadness of the demise of Anne Krause. I knew her well when she was Anne Ballard, a senior at RBUHS and me a lowly fresh- man. At some time in our re- lationship she objected to my self-absorption and prophe- sied that I was heading for a fall. She was right. ••• From recent Police Logs: "Williams Avenue: A man called to report that a shirt- less man in jeans had come into his backyard, and when he saw the reporting party, he left and ran south on Sale Lane. The man was carry- ing a shirt and a black base- ball cap. He was accompa- nied by a woman in pajama pants with orange colored hair." This attire would un- doubtedly have gone unno- ticed near the end of October at Halloween time, but is con- sidered a cause for alarm in August, even for denizens of the apartment complexes on Sale Lane. ••• Euphemism: "The substitu- tion of an inoffensive term for one considered offensively ex- plicit." Sources say there have been only a few times when substitution of the "F" word was considered appropriate. For example: "What the @#$% do you mean we are sinking?" — Capt. E.J. Smith of the Titanic in 1912. "Where did all those @#$% Indians come from?" — Custer 1877. "You want what on the @#$% ceiling?" — Mi- chelangelo, 1566. "Where the @#$% are we?" Amelia Ear- hart, 1937, and "Scattered showers my ass." — Noah 431 BC. ••• When offering awful puns the last few weeks, ye editor contributed one which does little to elevate his stand- ing in the halls of humor. He maintained that one does not run in the forest in the cor- rect tense if he runs past tents. Yes, that's what he con- tributed. Tsk, tsk. ••• A man owned a parrot which he patiently taught to perform. He tied a string on each of the parrot's feet and instructed on-lookers to par- ticipate in the parrot's perfor- mances. One intrigued guest pulled the string on the left foot…and the parrot immedi- ately recited the Pledge of Al- legiance. Another impressed viewer pulled the string on the right foot, and the parrot sang, in a high falsetto voice, "God Bless America." A third startled witness said, "Boy, that's amazing…but what happens if I pull both strings at the same time," and the parrot promptly replied, "I'd fall on my arse…ha, ha, ha!" Robert Minch is a lifelong resident of Red Bluff, former columnist for the Corning Daily Observer and Meat Industry magazine and author of the "The Knocking Pen." He can be reached at rminchandmurray@hotmail. com. I say Gauging local opinions on Citizen Trump Then, after ruining thousand's of seniors attempt to graduate, the department went to the legislature to ask them to retroactively remove the testing requirement for three years so the monkeys at the state department of education can type up a new test. In other words, in typical bureaucracy fashion, out—of— touch educrats happily put the cart before the horse and were shocked the ride was so dangerous. With all the adverse coverage of Trump versus the fawning devotion of his advocates, I wonder if the brouhaha has registered sufficiently with our local columnists for them to take a stand? GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIAL BOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@ redbluffdailynews.com Fax: 530-527-9251 Mail to: P.O. Box 220, 545 Diamond Ave., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS Robert Minch StateandNational Assemblyman James Galla- gher, 2060 Talbert Drive, Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 895-4217, http://ad03.asmrc.org/ Senator Jim Nielsen, 2634 Forest Ave., Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 879-7424, senator. nielsen@senate.ca.gov Governor Jerry Brown, State Capital Building, Sacramento 95814, 916 445-2841, fax 916 558-3160, governor@governor. ca.gov U.S. Representative Doug La- Malfa, 507 Cannon House Of- fice Building, Washington D.C. 20515, 202 225-3076 U.S. Senator Dianne Fein- stein, One Post St., Ste. 2450, San Francisco 94104, 415 393- 0707, fax 415 393-0710 U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, 1700 Montgomery St., San Fran- cisco 94111, 510 286-8537, fax 202 224-0454 Local Tehama County Supervisors, 527-4655 District 1, Steve Chamblin, Ext. 3015 District 2, Candy Carlson, Ext. 3014 District 3, Dennis Garton, Ext. 3017 District 4, Bob Williams, Ext. 3018 District 5, Burt Bundy, Ext. 3016 Red Bluff City Manager, Rich- ard Crabtree, 527-2605, Ext. 3061 Corning City Manager, John Brewer, 824-7033 YOUR OFFICIALS OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, September 4, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A8