Is less really more?

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

I hope everyone has enjoyed this week. We only have a couple of weeks left believe it or not. Anyways, I would like to talk to you about the changes that have recently been made to the Texas curriculum for high school students. I stumbled upon this article earlier this week and while I knew that there was a possibility that the graduation requirements would change I did not expect a bill to already be passed by Texas House of Representatives.

The article goes into detail how recently the House of Representatives have passed a bill to reduce the number of end-of-course exams need to graduate from 15 to 5, also the years of mathematics and science has been decreased from 4 to 3. While the entire country has been watching this decision closely, it surprises me that Texas would make a change like this to the curriculum of high school students. In the article it explains that parents and teachers from our Lone Star state have been the most outspoken on whether or not the curriculum should be decreased or not. Surprisingly individuals outside of Texas are concerned by the actions that have been taken. It is believed that with the reduction of curriculum the students in a lower socioeconomic environment will end up suffering instead of flourishing.
Another question that is raised is with reducing the number of required years for mathematics and science will freshmen college students need more remedial math courses? The number of first year college students needing a remedial mathematics class before proceeding to college algebra is on the rise. So, my question is with our legislators knowing that more students are needing remedial courses during college why would they change the curriculum? Yes I agree that testing has become excessive and is focused on a little too much, but I do not agree that the years of required mathematics and science should have been reduced. There are too many students that are already struggling with those two subject areas to decrease the exposure that students have in high school.
My question to you is do you think this was a smart move by Texas? Would you do it differently? As a future or current educator would you still advise students to take those four years of math and science? Is there another way we can reduce the number of students in remedial math classes in college? What are your opinions about this article?

Until next time darlings,

April N. Avery