Changing Education Standards

"The Texas House (recently) passed Senate Bill 149, which creates a graduation committee at each high school to assess whether students should graduate even if they fail as many as two of the five end-of-course tests they take as part of the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness.”

Source:

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_27969676/bill-would-allow-high-school-diplomas-bad-test

In a declining society, bureaucracies have traditionally changed definitions and requirements in order to obfuscate failure and to meet current standards.  In other words, to create the illusion that they are meeting standards, they change the standards. The author of “The Peter Principle” was an educator, and his book graphically demonstrates the point; but predictably, educators dismissed it as humorous satire, diminishing its impact on education

In today’s world, anyone who wants a high school, or a college, diploma can get one.  That is the reason we see college graduates, especially in the liberal arts, busing tables at Starbucks (at least the pay is better than McDonalds).

In ages past, overcoming one’s self was a much nobler achievement than a college degree.  That was what Nietzsche meant when he coined the term “overman.” Actually, the term was misinterpreted and initially called “superman,” its meaning corrupted by the vagaries of translating an ancient manuscript of Zoroastrianism. Overcoming one’s self has never been easy, and its achievement usually means isolating one’s self from one’s roots, or natural-born legacy.

The prophesies of Zarathustra dealt with a segment of humankind’s subtle and psychological quest for simplicity and mediocrity.   Islam, a much simpler religion, eventually replaced Zoroastrianism in the latter’s place of origin, Persia.

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