News flashes:

Item No. 1:
The California State Department of Education released figures showing that less than half of the students of the Class of 2004 passed both parts of the mandated math and English language arts exams.

Passage of both parts of the exam supposedly must be passed before diplomas can be awarded.

Item No. 2:
Gov. Davis signed a measure to limit the weight of textbooks that students lug in backpacks.

Now pholks I'm not quite a genius but I just gotta say that something is terribly wrong with this picture.

Let's look at the test issue first and consider just how serious a problem students face. Some observers claim the math portion of the test is not easy and a serious concern for many students. Both the math and English tests were given over the last two years. The Class of 2004, now juniors, is the first group required by state law to pass the exit exams. In Tulare County 753 out of 3,685 who took the math test passed. Doing the math, that is 20 percent. That figure, of course, was compiled by experts, not the students. Mariposa County students had a passing percentage of 37 per cent (28 of 76) for the highest rate in the six San Joaquin Counties (Tulare, Kings, Fresno, Merced, Madera and Mariposa) cited in the report.

In the language test, Tulare County students had a 36 percent passing rate, 906 of 2,519. Again, Mariposa topped the six counties with a rate of 52 percent, 33 of 63. The small number of students probably had some impact on those figures, but considering that big Fresno County had a 39 per cent rate, 2,078 of 5,269, it's obvious that there is a problem. Statewide, just 54 percent passed the exam.

State officials are hoping that repeated attempts at the tests will result in much higher passage rates. If at first you don't pass, try, try, try and try again.

Actually, our state's students get seven tries to achieve the goal. For those students reading this, if they can, seven is 6+1, or 5+2, 4+3, 1+6, 2+5, or 3+4. That's a simple one, you don't even have to carry the damned one. No fractions, decimal points or long division required. You don't even have to mess with Pi or obtuse or acute angles.

Don't get me wrong pholks, I know the questions are a lot more difficult than those examples. There are geometry, algebra, and probably a little calculus problems in the examination.

But students who fail math must consider the consequences: They might not be able to advance in their Burger King, McDonald's or Taco Bell careers if they can't make change if the computer fails. Of course, if that happens, the cash register probably would not open and everything else would be shut down. They might have to read the instructions to get things working again. That also could be a problem.

Now pholks, let us consider the second law, the one about the heavy backpacks. Those things are heavy, I know for a fact, since my grandkids lug the darned things to school each day.

The eldest granddaughter, Gem Armstrong, is in the seventh grade and is not a big girl. Her backpack is about 25 percent of her weight.

Something must be done, but making the books lighter or whatever is not the solution. I could be a real smartass and say that carrying books is useless since the kids can't read them anyway, but I won't. Maybe they should just include pictures, or computer icons or something to which the students can relate. But that would be tacky. I don't want to be that way.

I'm sure making books lighter or cutting down the number of them is not the only thing some pholks are advocating as a potential cure for low achievement of such a high percentage of our students.

Maybe I'm all wet. Maybe the saying "Strong back, weak mind" is what the current and future generations are going to have to live with. I hope that's wrong.

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