Seattle Times editorial writer Bruce Ramsey used his column yesterday to take a look at legislative proposals to weaken the WASL. I like this:
This is a new thing, to insist on a standard — new for the state and new for them. Since childhood, these students have been swathed in egalitarian softness. They have been praised on the playfield when they didn't win. They have been promoted to the next grade without question. Now, at 18, they face this new hurdle. It is important for them to get over it. Trying is not enough. They have to do it.
The legislators who mandated this 15 years ago knew it would be painful, so they postponed it past the millennium. Now the question is: Do we mean it?
We should.
