Blaming the victims

A new study from the Arizona Board of Regents shows that 19 percent of Arizona high school graduates since 2006 have earned a four-year degree. This is a sad number and one that reinforces Arizona’s status as the Mississippi of the West.

So what does the The Republic think the problem is? Tragically underfunded schools with huge class sizes? Students living in such severe economic insecurity they need to be fed by their schools in order to eat at all? A state-wide attitude of book-learnin’ being useless?

Bzzzt! Negatory, ghost rider.

It’s the students! They have it too easy! And the slackers in the K12 system are allowing them to graduate high school without being ready for college. But their poverty and large class sizes would not be problems if only they would buck down and “strive for it.” And for said striving to happen it must become harder for them to graduate from high school.

This idea that if already stressed students in underfunded schools knew that their tests are going to get more difficult, making them less likely to graduate, they would somehow become motivated to study harder, is a breathtaking level of derangement.

Sure, there are 32 other kids in your classroom and you’re hungry, but man up, squirt!

This attitude of blaming the weakest members of society is disgusting.

For the sake of fairness it should be noted this bizarre tripe is some kind of odd sidebar, or counterpoint, perhaps, to a main editorial that suggests education should get more funding from the state, since Arizona students aren’t graduating from college at high enough levels. In other words, a sane editorial.

I assume the words “get off my lawn” aren’t in this piece only due to an intervention by an eagle-eyed copy editor.