Virginia’s Sub-standard Standards

Virginia’s Sub-standard Standards:

Virginia’s Sub-standard Standards

by Kris Amundson

In an editorial in today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch, I tell the story of a phone call I received  from a friend when I was a member of the Fairfax County school board.

Her daughter had just received her first-quarter marks, including a C in algebra.

The mother was upset, and she made an appointment to talk with the teacher. Later, she called me to report on that conversation.

The teacher had smiled at her and said, “Really, Mrs. Smith, a C isn’t such a bad grade.”

“It is,” my friend responded, “at our house. And I suspect it would be at yours.”

When President George W. Bush talked about the “soft bigotry of low expectations,” this is exactly what he