Would you employ a Fourth Grader?

 A 4.9  reading level- This equals how you would expect a student in the last full month of that year to be able to read. Can you imagine a high school graduate reading at that level? Yet, That is the minimal acceptable Reading Level for a graduating High School Senior in The City of New York.

What type of jobs is someone with a 4th Grade reading level likely to gain? How much is that employment likely to provide to him or her? Enough to actually live a life that most of us desire to live as citizens of the United States?

If you had the daring to ask, " How can you justify this policy?". You would be told, both with an attitude and noticeable disdain, " We respond to the realities of the students we instruct!". You would, then, be told of- Poverty, Homelessness, Improper Nutrition, Processing Problems ( ADHD et al), English as a Second, Third or Fourth Languages and a Single Parent Household among other causes totally beyond their ability to vanquish or even significantly challenge. You would also be told of the schools that are succeeding and prospering, few, they would admit but they are there! The most important item to glean from all of this would be - That NOT every student graduates from high school with a fourth grade reading level. However, It will be granted that a student with a FOURTH GRADE can graduate with a full diploma from a New York City Public High School!

It is vital to consider that a High School Diploma is a legal document . It is in the same category  as a driver's license or a birth certificate. It would be totally reasonable to expect a High School Graduate to read at a 12th Grade Reading Level- After all High School Seniors are 12th graders in the rubric of our system.A 4th Grade reading level is 33% of a 12th Grade Reading level. If we factor in the .9 and are bit generous- let's inflate this percentage to 37 %.

Any one really want to rely upon a Long Form Birth Certificate where 37% of the facts are trustworthy. Do you want to grant a driver's license to someone who can meet 37 % of the requirements to obtain a driver's license? Isn't it a delusional fraud,and an insulting disservice to the young man or woman receiving the diploma to tell someone with a FOURTH!GRADE! READING! LEVEL! that they are properly trained to succeed in 21st Century America?

- Johnny -