From the
President of the New York State Council for the Social Studies to the Vice
Chancellor of the Board of Regents:
It has come to our
attention that the elimination of the mandatory Regents examination in Global
History and Geography is on the agenda of the April 23-24 meeting of the Board
of Regents… The argument that it is the Global History and Geography Regents
Examination that is pulling the graduation rates in New York State down and
preventing a large percentage of students from not graduating is not valid…
Trying to raise
graduation rates by lowering the requirements is counterproductive. New
York State has an educational standard that other states continually try to
emulate. To maintain this status in this critical time of globalization
we need to emphasize global awareness and living in a global economy. We
achieve this goal by continuing to educate our students about global cultures and
global governments. To ensure that this expectation is achieved NYSED
must continue to test Global History and Geography and continue to improve the
testing process.