In her letter in the May 26 issue, Diane Butler raises an interesting point about graduates from Maryland schools having to take remedial classes in. I agree with her wholeheartedly that this sort of thing ought not happen. Its roots, however, are deeper than our present school board squabbles.

In the past couple of decades, a pernicious standard has been placed upon schools: the graduation rate. A school that graduates 90 percent of the students who enroll is considered "better" than one that graduates only 75 percent. Under this scheme, 100 percent successful graduation is the ideal.

This sort of thing might work in Lake Woebegone, where "all the children are above average," but in the real world, half of all children are, sad to say, below average (see the definition of "average"). Given that some students are less apt than others, less industrious, and/or less likely to attend classes, how does a school raise its graduation rate?

Schools generally employ three main methods to raise the rate: teach to the test, lower the standards for passing grades or simply bite the bullet and pass everyone. Teaching to the test does the least harm, though it is not to be confused with really educating; through drill on set answers, students at least tend to remember those answers. They get placed in remedial classes when somebody asks different questions.

Lowering the standards generates more graduates who will need remediation in one or more areas, and passing everyone yields the maximum graduation rate as well as the maximum rate of candidates for remediation. All three methods amount to practicing fraud upon the students.

Not that the students object, of course. On the whole, they like sailing through school with little effort. Confidence tricksters maintain that you cannot swindle an honest man; the mark must be willing to participate in dishonest gains in order to go along with the dishonest scheme. Parents like it, too. We would all like to believe that our kids are paragons. Lake Woebegone is our emotional home.

The only real standard for a school is graduate-based, not graduation rate-based. When its graduates in general do as well in the next stage of their careers, the school is a good one. This standard is applicable to every level. Good kindergartens produce good first-graders; good trade schools produce good tradesmen; good high schools produce good college freshmen, etc.

With all the recent concern about lawsuits, money and school board secrecy, one wonders whether anyone is worried about educating the students.

Good teachers do, but teachers' views are often ignored by their "superiors."

Don Martin

Long Reach