AND HERE'S ANOTHER PLAN FOR NEW STANDARDS

The ink was hardly dry on the new math assessments described above when Missouri's commissioner of education, Robert Bartman, summoned local superintendents to a before-the-start-of-school session in Jefferson City. Message: "Missouri high school students graduating in 2000 would have to meet specific academic standards to get a state-approved diploma." Bartman said the state doesn't require students to reach a minimum achievement level to receive a diploma. They need only to accumulate 22 credits of classwork. "It's seat time -- just being in the classroom -- and we are in the process of changing that." Is this really all we've had, lo these many decades: seat time? And if that be the case, should we trust those who've tolerated this situation this long to provide the prescription for change?

The commissioner also called for requiring minimum achievement levels before a student can play sports or participate in other extracurricular activities. No such state requirements currently exist, and any such proposal would require approval by the state school board. "It's unconscionable to me that we tell young people they can play football or march in the band with a D-minus average," said Bartman. Question: Is there an epidemic of D-minus students playing in high-school bands? One would think that the disciplined habits required to master a musical instrument would not correlate with D-minus grades, but then -- oh, well.

A few years back the estimable Ross Perot put Texans through this debate. Many Missourians will probably agree with the commissioner. Aside from its value to Bartman and a DESE crowd always eager to burnish their standards-raising image, valid points can be made on both sides. Let the debate begin.