Re: Private School Circumvents State Graduation Test

[Victor Steinbok <victor.steinbok@verizon.net>]

OK, I thought I'd put the pen where my mouth was. I just sent the following 
to the Miami Herald:

To: HeraldEd@herald.com
Subject: FCAT loophole
Cc: mpinzur@herald.com

"I am shocked, shocked that there is gambling at this establishment!--Your 
winnings, sir." Matt Pinzur would have done well to have replayed this 
brief moment in cinematic history before condemning the FCAT circumvention 
as a "loophole" (School provides FCAT loophole, Feb 29). The "loophole" was 
there by design--what shocks the proponents of the FCAT system is that the 
people taking advantage of it are not from the suburbs and not wealthy. The 
FCAT requirement--and every other state's testing requirement--only applies 
to the public school students and completely ignores their academic record. 
Private school students, irrespectively of whether they are on a path to 
Harvard or barely scrape enough credits to graduate, are exempt. It is 
disingenuous for state officials such as Jim Horne to whine about 
"loopholes" when they are the ones who created them. One has to wonder if 
they would question the legitimacy of the diploma had the students who 
availed themselves of an opportunity to graduate came from a different zip 
code. What's next? Complaints that too many poor students are asking for 
vouchers?

Victor Steinbok
Brookline, MA