Tina Kotek, the governor of the Great Blue State of Oregon, enthusiastically continued withering suspension of the little requirement that an Oregon high school diploma means you can read, write, and do math. 
Her office blessed the rationale.

And the result is beautiful. We told the public we were helping students of color. We were. We were helping them past the only part of high school that could still embarrass us. 
The proficiency check was producing the wrong spreadsheet. Too many Black and Latino kids on the wrong side of the line, too many senior years spent on remediation instead of electives, too many parents with calculators. So we removed the line called “competency.”
 Everyone is now equally unmeasured. Equity is just equality with the yardstick in the dumpster. You wanna cavort with the colored kids at the bottom whitey, we’ll remove reading and math requirements for you too, in the interest of the collective good.

We ain’t gonna say they’re incapable of learning
We’ll Say the assessment was harmful to people of color.
 Say the extra classes did not move the needle.
 Say “systematically marginalized” until the syllable count does the work. 
The donor class hears compassion. The precinct captain hears a cohort that will need us in November, and in every November after, because a a gift wrapped participation trophy of a diploma is a laminated invitation to the welfare office.

Think of it like a degree in basketball. After twelve years, you skipped 95% of the trainings and are still too uncoordinated to make a lay-up, well we give you you’re degree with Michael Jordan’s signature on it. 

Then y’all walk onto the court, waving the framed paper with Michael Jordan’s signature on it. “Yo look at this, I got Jordans,” and you promptly drop three straight passes out of bounds, we’re not trusting the Jordan name any more.

Or the pilot’s license issued to a man who has not found the cockpit, because, we, the authorities, believe for whatever reason he’s incapable. 
After two airplanes fall out of the sky, none of those with the Amelia Earhart signature ever fly again. 
But all the quote unquote “pilots” will be very angry that they’re being discriminated against, and demand the agency that awarded them their pilot’s degree allow them to sit at the controls, which we will force you racists to do with the threat of the state, and investigations, and the media. 
Don’t think we will, we already let career criminals with 37 felonies out for winking at our Democrat appointed judges in court, and then they go out and kill innocent people like Iryna Zarutska and plenty of others.
And these here pilots are not even criminals. Well, maybe a couple of the. 
Once upon a time we had laws against teaching slaves to read. 

That’s Crude. That’s Traceable. Our version lets them attend, lets them graduate, lets them hold the document up at the family party, and then we meet them the next day with a shrug and a caseworker. 

We did not forbid the skill. We merely stopped insisting on it, cited the racial gap as the reason, and called the gap’s disappearance a civil right. 
The Klan burned schools. We issue worthless diplomas and disincentivize reading and math. 
History will struggle to tell the difference from the transcript alone.

And when you can’t make it in the world despite your so called credential. we’ll got your EBT cards ready for you, along with a lecture about how the mean Republicans are going to take away your welfare, so you damn well better continue voting for us. 

We will be there, shocked, with a camera, explaining that expecting grade-level reading is violence. They will look cruel. We will look like the only adults who ever believed in these children, which is a funny thing to say about the party that decided the children should not have to prove they can read.
We’re bringing you into Pleasure Island using the resources of others, and allowing you to turn into donkeys on your own free will, because frankly, it benefits us long term for you to pull our political stage coach along, dependent on the carrots we hand out.

So keep voting for my clients, Democrats. We’re the winners in the end. We’re just constructing a society that will guarantee that permanently.

—-
Tina Kotek, the governor of the Great Blue State of Oregon, enthusiastically continued the withering suspension of the little requirement that an Oregon high school diploma means you can read, write, and do math. Her office blessed the rationale.

And the result is beautiful. We told the public we were helping students of color. We were. We were helping them past the only part of high school that could still embarrass us. The proficiency check was producing the wrong spreadsheet. Too many Black and Latino kids on the wrong side of the line, too many senior years spent on remediation instead of electives, too many parents with calculators. So we removed the line called “competency.” Everyone is now equally unmeasured. Equity is just equality with the yardstick in the dumpster. You wanna cavort with the colored kids at the bottom, whitey? We’ll remove reading and math requirements for you too, in the interest of the collective good.

We ain’t gonna say they’re incapable of learning. We’ll say the assessment was harmful to people of color. Say the extra classes did not move the needle. Say “systematically marginalized” until the syllable count does the work. Four syllables of compassion cost less than a tutor.

The donor class hears the word which fills them with a sense of superiority, “compassion,” making them more amenable to opening their check books. 
The precinct captain hears a cohort that will need us in November, and in every November after, because a gift-wrapped participation trophy of a diploma is a laminated invitation to the welfare office.

Think of it like a degree in basketball. After twelve years, you skipped 95% of the trainings and are still too uncoordinated to make a lay-up, well, we give you your degree with Michael Jordan’s signature on it. Then y’all walk onto the court, waving the framed paper with Michael Jordan’s signature on it. “Yo, look at this, I got Jordan’s,” and you promptly drop three straight passes out of bounds. We’re not trusting the Jordan name anymore.

Or the pilot’s license issued to a man who has not found the cockpit, because we, the authorities, believe for whatever reason he’s incapable. After two airplanes fall out of the sky, none of those with the Amelia Earhart signature ever fly again. But all the quote-unquote “pilots” will be very angry that they’re being discriminated against, and demand the agency that awarded them their pilot’s degree allow them to sit at the controls, which we will force you racists to do with the threat of the state, and investigations, and the media. 
Don’t think we will? We already let career criminals with 37 felonies out for winking at our Democrat-appointed judges in court, a lot of them then go out and kill innocent people like Iryna Zarutska. And these here pilots are not even criminals. Well, maybe a couple of them.

Once upon a time we had laws against teaching slaves to read. That’s crude. That’s traceable. Our version lets them attend, lets them graduate, lets them hold the document up at the family party, and then we meet them the next day with a shrug and a caseworker. 

We did not forbid the skill. We merely stopped insisting on it, cited the racial gap as the reason, and called the gap’s disappearance a civil right. The Klan burned schools. We issue worthless diplomas and disincentivize reading and math. History will struggle to tell the difference from the transcript alone.

And when you can’t make it in the world despite your so-called credential, we’ve got your EBT cards ready for you, along with a lecture about how the mean Republicans are going to take away your welfare, so you damn well better continue voting for us. We will be there, shocked, with a camera, explaining that expecting grade-level reading is violence. 
They will look cruel. 
We will look like the only adults who ever believed in these children, which is a funny thing to say about the party that decided the children should not have to prove they can read. We’re bringing you into Pleasure Island, you’re choice, and if you become a donkey, of your own free will, frankly, it benefits us long term for you to pull our political stagecoach along, dependent on the carrots we hand out.

So keep voting for my clients, the Democrats. We’re the winners in the end. We’re just constructing a society that will guarantee that permanently.
Kids inability to read after high school is just one of the levers.