My son, a junior in an Oregon high school, never had a single class that focused on grammar. Until I talked about it with him last year, he didn't even know what preposition is. Granted, he's been in three school districts. Perhaps each assumed the over covered it? Regardless, it is ridiculous and unacceptable.

That said, most adults in the USA read at an 7th or 8th grade level. Maybe that's the new benchmark for literacy success? Somewhere around Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Book 2)? If so, then Oregon may be on target.

I know a recent teaching graduate -- here in Oregon -- who was pressured to not give out homework. Why? Because there was concern, from the administration down, that students would not do the homework and, therefore, would get bad grades. This, in turn, would reflect poorly on the high school and district.

The implicit message to students: don't do work, get rewarded; do your work, get punished. This is the mentality, in one school district, we're releasing into the Oregon workforce.

It is sad, sad, sad.

I agree. Oregon is a waste of education. The focus should be on war-fighting and Walmart shopping and teenage pregnancies. Surely, the children of Oregon can help the rest of the nation out by doing these things well. Education is a privilege, not a right. Why waste it on Oregon?

Why invest in education? That's so 1950's.

With one child in elementary school and one in high school, this comes as no surprise. For many school districts, standards have dropped to excruciatingly low levels. According to some measures, Oregon is ranked near the bottom in K-12 performance (see link at bottom of this post). In my opinion, this action is not about the kids; it's not about reducing their stress on typos. Rather, this is about the school system finding a way to get higher scores and look a little better. If the students cannot perform on their own, a convenient solution is to let computers help them get them higher scores on standard tests.

The question I have is why stop there? Last I checked, computers are good at basic math. Why not let the computers fix "typos" in math problems, too? And if a student accidentally fills in the wrong multiple choice -- surely, that was a genuine mistake -- then why not have the computer provide gentle suggestions for those as well?

Seriously, the school system has it backward. They should not be fixing "typos" in standard tests so the kids will "feel better" -- they should be focused on providing an exceptional education, especially at elementary grade levels, so kids have the foundation and wherewithal to identify their own typos. Tiny, reactive steps like this will not fix the problem. They simply mask and exacerbate the situation -- hide the bloody obvious -- and do not take accountability or responsibility for our kids or future.

While I would like to say Oregon is at the bottom of this educational mess, a more appropriate metaphor is that Oregon is the tip of the spear -- gladly leading our great Nation into an educational and, hence, economical cesspool. As terrible as it is to say, we're the leaders. Unless the status quo changes, the rest of the nation will mistake this cesspool for cotton candy and jump right in. Why wait?

Numbers on Oregon's educational performance: http://www.oregoncatalyst.com/index.php/archives/1117-Oregon-Education-Among-Very-Worst-in-the-Nation.html