Letter to the Editor from Donald Weyer:
I achieved a "Regents diploma" in the mid-1960s upon graduating high school (additionally, I won/was awarded a Regents college scholarship at the same time, and later, in the early 1970s, a Regents war-service scholarship, so I'm not exactly a neutral observer). The "Regents," a council of educators sitting in Albany, N.Y., standardizes and regulates what is taught in N.Y. public schools, and what specific academic coursework leads to, in this case, high school graduation and a diploma. The Regents are still very much in existence today!
My high school, Bennett, in Buffalo, N.Y., had coursework that led to either a "Regents diploma" or a general "local" diploma. The courses required for the Regents diploma were more complex, difficult, advanced, and demanding—whatever those adjectives may connote—than those required for the general diploma. The Regents diploma was not easily earned or lightly given. Additionally, at that time in the 1960s, colleges and universities seemingly preferred applicants and thus entrants with Regents diplomas.
Anyway, the result of this diploma differentiation, now going on 50-70 years to the present day, has been, at best, positive; and at worst, neutral. American society has flourished economically, politically, culturally, and intellectually. At worst, it has not gone backward, maybe only "marched in place." It has maintained its international primary position, with the factors listed above, beginning post-World War II. I'm still here, and my peers from the 1960s with general diplomas are mostly still here! I've had a pretty good life, and all indications are that the general diploma recipients have fared likewise. Everything, with a few glaring exceptions, is good. So, what's the problem here?
Does all this prelude recall something to you? Like the cliché, "Don't fix it if it isn't broken"? Yeah, I thought so!
First, in present-day, the 2020s, expert state education policymakers and administrators propose to eliminate the Regents diploma but keep the Regents coursework, as I understand this issue (based on widespread newspaper reports of the past 30 days). And second, to introduce and institutionalize and fix in stone "broader assessable inputs" to achieve a high-school diploma—whatever that phrase, "broader assessable inputs," means or signifies. Well, I'll be! Replace the Regents diploma and establish for all time one all-encompassing, read "all students," high-school diploma, and add to it a "stamp" (a smiley-face?) or "seal" (waxed?), or some kind of annotation highlighting and recognizing Regents coursework. (Puts me in the mind of the gold or blue stars affixed to a good piece of grammar-school reading or writing or arithmetic)! Has it truly come to this? A "fix" for a "broken" system? In my estimation, these various add-ons are simply "asterisks," and what asterisks may mean: a possible exception, a qualifier, a not-necessarily outstanding achievement, something accomplished under special or extenuating conditions (quite similar to Major League Baseball individual records "under the influence of steroids"). And maybe not even evident or noticeable on the face of the diploma. At best, a superficial change! At worst, a "dumbing-down" of our educational system, a leveling-out of our meritocratic economic, political, and social systems; "everyone gets a trophy"; mediocrity, the new wave of the future, incipient in this proposal; etc.! What do you think?
N.Y. State Regents, instead of making changes based on which way you think the current wind is blowing, maintain long-established standards. You state that requirements for a high-school diploma are "inflexible" for "modern education standards." Aren't requirements and standards, by definition, a bit "inflexible"? In my world, they are. And I suspect, in my readers' worlds, they are too! Even better yet, Regents, strengthen those standards. "Inflexible" as they may be, they have just enough flex, "give," but in a positive or "good" direction! Further, best better yet, strengthen education instruction so that all high-school students can achieve a Regents-level school diploma. Aim high, not low or middle, respected Regents, with your window-dressing on diplomas, and do what you were entrusted to do: make every citizen an intelligent decision-maker in our great State of New York, starting with the teaching you initiate in kindergarten, and continuing through all levels of instruction!
Regents, stop your tweaking and tinkering and twiddling with the controls and standards of state education. Previously, I had railed against the demise of the "top 10" ranking of students in a high school graduation class. And against ditching the positions of "valedictorian" and "salutatorian" of the senior graduating class. I warned that those were the "first shoe to drop" in reference to a high-quality high-school education. I now see these current 2023 Regents' proposals as possibly being the "second shoe to drop." Particularly, if the new "broader assessable inputs" for credits to attain a high-school diploma in N.Y. include not only the much-ballyhooed "basket-weaving" of the past but the new and improved "basketball-playing" or "guitar-strumming-member" of a garage band, and even maybe "just showing up" (reserve that top-notch ability for jobs, post-graduation), as acceptable credit-bearing inputs of the present and the future! If those requirements scenarios come to fruition, we'll all be walking around shoeless!
