Saturday’s Tribune editorial was very critical of Evanston Township High School’s decision to lower the test standards so that more minorities might qualify to take the freshman honors humanities class. It seems that lots of the parents of the highly achieving white students were up in arms over the lowering of standards. The high scholl framed the issue somewhat differently: it was an effort to end “racially segregated” classes.
It is hard to say who is right on the merits of this complicated issue, but if both the Tribune and the white parents can get so worked up over one freshman class, change is not going to be easy. The parents of the “have” students are not going to go along with shifting resources and emphasis to the “have not’ students without a fight. This is yet another factor that retards efforts to close the achievement gap.
