Greetings, Dear Reader,
Welcome back to State of the Day, where I strip the euphemism and misdirection off that day’s news and give it to you straight, no ice, no mixer.
I should also welcome you to the …
AGE OF DELUSION
Richard Barrera entered a long recent history of left-wing politicians openly encouraging delusion when he sat for an Oct. 4 interview with Conan Nolan of NBCLA.
Recently, we’ve got Lindsay Clancy as innocent and Sydney Sweeney as guilty. We’ve got a girl who literally admitted to planning a fake rape accusation at the center of a new actual rape investigation in NY. We’ve got AI orgy polycules lobbying Dems to recognize their code has a soul and should be given special economic status.
And now we’ve got Barrera.
He’s the leading candidate for state superintendent in California, the chief executive of K-12 public education. In a clip posted by NBC, Nolan asks a simple question (emphasis mine):
Conan Nolan:
“Turning to higher education policy: there’s been an ongoing debate across California universities regarding admissions standards and standardized testing. Would you vote to bring back the SAT?”
Richard Barrera:
“Absolutely not. That, again, is an approach that’s about — if kids are struggling or not ready to do college-level work ...
Nolan:
… you have math teachers at Cal and UCLA saying these students don’t know fundamental fractions …
Barrera:
So math teachers at UCLA, Berkeley, and every place else: Part of your job that you get paid by the taxpayers to do is to teach our kids. Teach them fractions.”
Nolan:
When they’re at the preeminent institutions of higher learning in the country?
Barrera:
Yeah. Listen, we’ve got students who are coming up from incredible experiences — first-generation students overcoming so many barriers to be on that campus. Those students are capable of learning quickly. What they need is a little support to be caught up; what they don’t need is to be excluded.
Nolan:
Critics would argue that if high school graduates are arriving at the UC system without mastering basic middle-school or high-school mathematics, that reflects a structural breakdown in K-12 preparation. How do you address that fundamental gap before they ever step foot on a college campus?
Barrera:
The answer isn’t to use a standardized test as a barrier to keep students out — a test that historically correlates far more with household income than actual academic potential. The answer is investing in early remediation, strengthening core curriculum in our high schools, and ensuring that public higher education institutions partner with K–12 districts rather than turning students away at the door.
And scene.
In fewer words, Barrera doesn’t believe in testing. He doesn’t believe in exceptional outcomes or exceptional institutions. He certainly doesn’t believe in exceptional individuals.
If we don’t test them, then everyone’s equal. Especially “first-generation” students (ie, illegal immigrants).
In no other discipline in America could responsibility be punted so flippantly as by someone vying for a government executive role in public education. If he wins the job, it would be his primary responsibility to make sure kids at the end of his K-12 pipeline hit baseline comprehension levels in math and reading.
While they, too, are technically government employees, it would not be the job of professors at public universities any more than it would be the job of tollbooth workers, park rangers, or anyone else drawing a salary from California taxpayers.
Like a hulking man in a sundress shrieking “my pronouns are she/her!” at a bewildered GameStop cashier, Barrera’s proposition is obviously absurd on its face.
Why would an advanced physics professor at the top of his field be compelled to teach an army of English-as-a-Second-Language students fractions of all things? Isn’t that a stunning waste of time and resources?
Nevertheless, Barrera steams ahead.
The trend of looking at reality and declaring the exact opposite is not new. Barrera is just the latest Democrat to have left the Earth while still unfortunately remaining very much here among us.
WHAT I’M READING
Cornyn’s Clinton-Era India Caucus Is A Fitting Legacy For The Swamp Monster
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
—
Karoline Leavitt Gets New Gig At Fox News
No surprise there.
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‘Stress test’ is one way to put it.
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Are we to be surprised that an education bureaucrat tied to a progressive/socialist/marxist state regime has no plan to improve the education of his state's children. Keep them ignorant and they will vote for the status quo without question for the rest of their lives.