In 2007, the average score on the National Achievement Test given to our public elementary school kids was 55%. In 2008, it was 66%, the new benchmark set by our Department of Education from the original 75%.

The DepEd says that it will try to raise scores back to 75% in two years. Until then, 66% is good enough. Which, I guess, is the humane thing to do. After all, failing our kids in school will turn them into failures. Better to let them feel good about themselves now, so they won’t have anyone to blame but themselves later in life.

Sen. Manuel Roxas II won’t have any of it, though. He called the lower standard unfair to students since this would make their public school diplomas meaningless. He noted that the DepEd has made it an unofficial policy to pass students even if they score even lower than 66% especially in English where more than half fail.

“What does these things mean? Why do we conduct the tests?” Roxas asked without any irony.

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