Exit-exam idea should be shown the door

Re “The bar is low enough,” Sept. 18

Your rationale for the governor needing to veto a bill that would allow school districts to come up with an assessment for students who fail the exit exam is that, by doing this, we are “denying them the skills for a decent job.” As a high school teacher, I am quite familiar with the exit exam. I am also a person who has been in the workforce for more than 30 years. Not one time have I been asked to graph an equation or to know the square root of 1,200. Both are typical questions on the exit exam. Maybe The Times should be spending its energies on how so-called highly educated people like our president and other politicians have gotten our country into such a fiscal mess. If these are the kinds of decisions “smart” people make, maybe we need leaders who will make up for a lack in book smarts with common sense.

DEBRA CRAIG

Moreno Valley

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Your editorial neglects to mention that the “eighth-grade math” required in the exit exam you champion is algebra. What percentage of readers educated enough to understand your article could pass an algebra test tomorrow?

KEVIN HOGGARD

Riverside