In most public schools in certain zip codes the majority of kids can't read/write/Do Math on grade level.
It isn't necessary to be able to do so to pass.
Folks won't get held back. Not enough space to do do.
Her trying to sue, iinteresting. Try your hand
That sounds wild. So it's a matter of capacity? Is this a nationwide problem is more localized in small rural areas?
I'm sure educational proficiency dropping is an almost global phenomenon due to social media, smartphones, ... but I've never heard of cases where you can pass to the next year without critical skills in elementary or even kindergarten. You get held back, otherwise you're just bound to fail the next year.
It's kinda shocking that this person was able to get this far in the first place.
I think the educational standards in Belgium's highschool and elementary systems are far higher than the US judging by the average grades I always hear from Americans, particularly past once you get to highschool in the 7th grade (we don't have 'middle school' here).
The low 70% range is an average grade here in the 7th to 12th grade in A levels, which is the highest tier of education. 75% is good and above 80% across all classes is exceptional. There were 2 students with certified genius IQ's in my school and they only scored around 85% across the board.
In elementary school, failing an 'essential' class will always always force the student to redo their year. A passing grade is 50.5% here. A low 50s passing grade however comes with an asterisk for the next year and you'll be forced to raise that number or risk being forced to retake your year.
Depending on how far below 50% a student fails an essential class, they might get an exemption and be allowed to advance to the next year but they must pass that particular class or they can be sent back to the previous grade as early as the first trimester exams depending on the results.
Same goes for highschool, though you get much more leeway with failing classes. Back in elementary school I was very competitive and strived to be the best, though I'd mostly come in second.
In highschool I realized that I didn't actually need to study or do homework to pass all of my classes so I became extremely lazy.
For the most part this wasn't an issue as my grades were either average or slightly below the average in A levels (the highest tier).
I specifically picked the route of "human sciences" after the 8th grade because that included classes like behavioral sciences, cultural sciences and reduced the hours of math to 3h/week.
That's where math started becoming an issue. I'd scrape above 50% on classes like chemistry and physics but for whatever reason I just couldn't get math to work without studying or doing homework. My overall grades remained average to slightly below average due to things like near perfect scores on English etc but on math I'd usually end the year with an average of around 35%.
In highschool though you get to take an extra exam during the summer. I'd get a tutor for 2 weeks so I'd be forced to actually do math exercises and the subsequent result of my re-exam was always high enough to drag my measly 35% above the 50% range.
If you failed to drag your average up past 50%, you'd automatically have to retake the entire year. You can't just add a failed class to the next year like you can in college/university. Like in elementary, a low passing grade also comes with that asterisk where you have to reach a higher average than your previous year (with the extra exam if necessary) or you'll be forced to retake your year anyway.
There's no such thing as optional classes here in highschool, you can only pick between a handful of routes per tier of education (A levels, B levels, C levels) and each 'route' comes with a set of classes.
Examples of such routes in A levels are "Humane sciences", "Math 8h/week", "Math-economics", "Latin/Math", "Latin/Greek", ...
B levels offered things like "Office management" and similarly more manual routes. B levels and C levels also have the unique perk of granting you a business license upon graduation.
C levels are extremely low grade in terms of theoretical classes but they offer very straightforward and effective routes like "farming", "construction", "hairdressing", ... basically manual labor so you're immediately fit for the job market right upon graduation. I've been able to look at the class material of C levels and any theoretics are extremely minimal. Anything unnecessary to be able to become a hairdresses, construction worker etc is basically just scrapped.
A levels is expressly meant for people who intend to pursue university or college after graduating highschool. B levels is sort of a mix that should render you competent enough to get a job straight out of highschool in a particular field, but the education standard should also be sufficient to be able to handle college or university.
C levels is exclusively meant for manual labor straight out of highschool. Only 3% of C levels graduates who attempt college of university actually pass the first year of college/uni.
College/university grade averages seem to be in line with the grades I hear from Americans, unlike the massive disparity in averages for highschool grades. Sure, getting in the 90% range for a particular class isn't that unheard of but I've never heard of anyone sniffing above 90% on their total average across all classes.
One of my cousins for example has a MENSA-tested IQ of somewhere in the upper 130 range (139 if I recall correctly) but he never reached a 90% total average in highschool either. University is where he got the kind of grades you see from top tier students in US universities and he now works as a quantum physicist.
Idk what explains that disparity. Obviously US top universities are superior to ours, there's no question about that. Top university students' grades over here are also in line with those of similar US university students. It's only in highschool where there's this massive disparity that I can't seem to make sense of. Maybe we're just extra hard on highschool students to better prepare them for university? After all there's no such thing as college/uni admissions here. Anyone can apply to any university.