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Asking for a ‘no’ vote on Question 2

by Richard Cabelus  ·   Friday, November 1, 2024

I ask my fellow residents to vote no on Question 2 next Tuesday. In 2003, while I was a teacher at Brockton High School, I saw firsthand how MCAS as a graduation requirement could garner the best in educators and help propel students to achieve at a higher level.

Top-down mandates are generally disfavored, and districts like their autonomy to function according to their unique needs and makeup. While as a general rule I do not quibble with that, I think there is also general consensus that children graduating from high school should possess a fundamental skill set that will enable them to succeed and be prepared to compete academically or vocationally. And while the MCAS, as all standardized tests, may not be perfect, and the Department of Education should continually seek to improve and tailor the test to weed out ambiguity, bias, and allow for appropriate waivers, it does remain the best measure we have.

Prior to MCAS’ graduation requirement, too often children would be shuffled through and set up for failure. While that may not have been as prevalent in Harvard, other districts were not so fortunate. In Brockton, the MCAS requirement, while at first met with hostility and alarm, led to cross-discipline collaboration among educators and departments and a focus on developing fundamentals, and I believe was a contributing factor in seeing that district make great advances at that time.

A diploma should serve as a warranty to our kids that they have obtained a level of preparedness and achievement they should be confident in and proud of, and not merely a decorative wall ornament that only time will tell whether it paid dividends for some—while containing only empty assurances for others.

Richard Cabelus
Pinnacle Road

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