Why doggedly insist students go down with the ship?

State Sen. Cheryl Pflug

R-Maple Valley

Too many students in our state fail the math and science portions of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) exam.

And as legislators neared the end of their current session late last week, they appeared ready to delay the math and science requirements for four years.

But, Sen. Pflug observed last year, "Graduating without skills is not OK."

The problem is not so much the WASL as it is the math curriculum, she claimed.

Science teaching similarly is affected.

Yet others claim the underlying reason why students fail the WASL is a scarcity of teachers qualified to teach these subjects.

A flawed curriculum or too few teachers-which is it?

Perhaps this litmus test should be applied: Teachers, too, should take all sections of the WASL exam when they apply for certification or re-certification.

Their individual scores should be posted along with their names. Teachers, who fall below average would be required to brush up on the basics, then take the test again.

This would demonstrate that teachers are committed by example to the standards the state requires of their students-and could help those on the front lines better understand the relationship between flawed curricula and failure to acquire working math and science skills.

In the meantime, reconsideration should be given to end-of-course exams, which once were and again could be the benchmark for academic achievement and success beyond the classroom.

Lawmakers and educators only cheat the students when they try to overcomplicate classroom instruction. After all, it's not "rocket surgery."

WITH THE recent election of Linda Iserno of Sterling Bank as president of the Discover Burien Association steering committee and former Meal Makers restaurant owner Kevin Fitz as vice president, the organization appears to be regaining balance and focus.

But, editorial director Ken Robinson noted recently, "The sigh of relief over the changing the guard at Discover Burien leaves out a couple of things."

For one thing, what should Discover Burien do to help the broader business community (i.e., businesses beyond Southwest 152nd Street and apart from dealerships on "auto row" along First Avenue South)?

For another, Discover Burien needs to involve more businesses and build membership.

To do this, Ken, whose background includes years of working with chambers of commerce and economic development organizations, believes "Discover Burien needs to have a regular, monthly meeting at noon, with a speaker, and needs committees made up from the membership to work on matters of interest to business."

This would be a stark contrast to the group's recent pattern of not behaving "like a traditional chamber of commerce, but more like a secret society that picks and chooses who will be helped."

While producing community festivals is nice and fun, they do little for business. "'Promotion' of Burien businesses must result in raising awareness by the public about the offerings and benefits of trading locally," Ken concluded. "The rest is negligible."

I concur. Now is Discover Burien's golden opportunity to make it so.

A NOTE to readers who know Eric Mathison only through his columns: he really is a nice guy. Even when he embarks on one of his liberal rants, Eric and I still get along.

In fact, his polemics on politics are always interesting, for they reflect an ingrained liberal philosophy that has much the same effect as blinders on a horse.

Case in point: Eric's tale of Joe, the average working guy, which hit the nail on the head last week.

"It is the government that is forcing us hard-working citizens into serfdom," Joe exclaimed.

Eric then observed that "blaming government for all our woes ... is rather simplistic."

What actually is simplistic, however, is the assertion by liberals that conservatives view government as the cause of their problems.

Conservatives are not opposed to the fundamental institution of government. But with good cause we are apprehensive of government that is too big and too powerful.

A thought-provoking book for liberals and conservatives alike on the subject of government and its serfs is the post-World War II classic, The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich A. Hayek.

The views of Ralph Nichols are his own, and do not necessarily reflect those of Robinson Newspapers. He can be reached at ralphn@robinsonnews.com or 206-388-1857.