Silicon Valley schools ditch Honors classes, but it's a bad idea
Palo Alto schools are doing away with Honors courses in the latest assault on equity.
Starting in September, freshmen will no longer have the option of taking a more rigorous Honors Biology class. Instead, the district will have one 'foundational' course.
The Palo Alto Unified School District voted in January to nix the advanced class after an hours-long debate with dozens of concerned members of the public in attendance. Honors English has already been sidelined.
Proponents argue that 'de-laning' — removing different 'lanes' for students based on achievement — will promote equity and encourage all kids to pursue science throughout their high school career.
7 Palo Alto School District has moved to get rid of Honors Biology classes.
PALY.Net
One Biology teacher argued during the meeting, 'We know that laning can lead to issues around students' beliefs in themselves.'
But opponents — including one 8th grader who showed up to the vote in protest — argue it's an assault on meritocracy.
'Please don't hold students such as myself back from these wonderful opportunities to challenge ourselves and grow as individuals,' she told the board.
7 Freshmen will no longer be able to choose Honors Biology classes.
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Nonetheless, the resolution, which has been under consideration since 2018, still passed with a narrow 3-to-2 margin.
Since when does everyone have to be the same? And why does one kid's excellence threaten another's 'belief' in themselves? Must we all be handicapped in the name of equity?
Palo Alto dad Nan Zhong is furious about it. He says the school district is 'approaching the achievement gap in the wrong way.'
7 Local father (left) Nan Zhong is furious about the decision to get rid of the Honors course.
Courtesy of Nan Zhong
7 Zhong's son Stanley took Honors Biology at his school in Palo Alto, which Zhong said he greatly benefited from.
Courtesy of Nan Zhong
'I think the move is really misguided, and it's very polarizing,' Zhong, a software engineering manager at Google, told The Post. 'The parents who are very involved in their kids' education and really want to prepare the kids for success are very upset.'
His two sons, a 16-year-old sophomore at Gunn High School and a 19-year-old recent graduate, both took Honors Biology and, Zhong said, greatly benefited from the accelerated courses which were 'stepping stones to AP courses' later in high school.
'The school of thought seems to be that we need to have equity and reduce students' mental burden, so, therefore, let's make the curriculum easier, and everybody can get an A,' he said.
The Post contacted the school district for comment but did not receive an answer.
7 Congressman Ro Khanna criticized the school district's move to nix the course.
AP
The move has drawn widespread scrutiny, including from local Democratic congressman Ro Khanna.
'It is absurd that [the] Palo Alto School district just voted to remove honors biology for all students and already removed honors English. They call it de-laning. I call it an assault on excellence. I took many honors classes at Council Rock High in PA,' he tweeted on Monday.
Another X user joked, 'Only in Palo Alto, where the school board's been breathing rarefied air too long, do you get 'de-laning'—an idea so open-minded, their brains fell out.'
They're right. The district should be more interested in producing excellent alumni than in making sure nobody's feelings are hurt because they couldn't cut it in Honors Biology.
Notable graduates of public high schools in the district include 23andMe founder Anne Wojcicki, Stanford neuroscientist and podcaster Andrew Huberman, and Charles Brenner who is considered the creator of forensic mathematics.
7 23AndMe founder Anne Wojcicki is a graduate of Gunn High School in Palo Alto.
Getty Images for WIRED25
Surely they're not a product of a system that emphasized equity over excellence.
This is part of a much larger shift. Neighboring Fremont Unified School District and Sequoia Union High School Districts have also eliminated Honors courses in an effort to de-lane.
'It's just part of the larger trend in California of watering down curriculum in public schools in the name of equity,' Zhong said. 'But I really don't think that's progress because if we don't teach kids anything and just give them an A, well, they got equity — but they get no knowledge and no skills to succeed.'
Since the great reckoning of 2020, there's been an effort at schools across the country to promote equity, whether for the sake of racial justice or student self-esteem.
7 There are three high schools in the Palo Alto district.
Wikipedia
High schools abandoning Honors courses are waging the same war on excellence as specialized schools dumping entrance exams and colleges dropping standardized testing requirements.
Rather than concentrate efforts on lifting up underperforming students, just the opposite tends to occur. Champions of equity seem determined to bash down the kids who excel in the supposed interest of the greater good.
In the end, everyone is worse off, and nobody is special. How is that progress?
As Zhong put it: 'The way to eliminate the achievement gap is not to take away the measure of the outcome. They're basically saying if you don't measure, then we don't have any problem.'
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