Whiners Always Get the Headlines – More on the Storm Lake Storm

Monday, March 9, 2009, 4:02
Battleground Iowa
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6 comments

By Emily Geiger

I see that Constitution Daily has already touched on this, but I just had to give my two-cents worth as well.

There was a story in the news last week about a young girl at Storm Lake High School who refused to take a test designed for students for whom English is their second language. This student in particular was born in the United States, but her parents were from Laos, and they spoke Laotian in their home. This girl listed Laotian as her first language, despite the fact that she is fluent in English and has a high GPA.

So this girl was offended that the school administrators wanted her to take this test that helps them get funding for students who need help with English. She found it insulting because of her obvious fluency.

First of all, most smart kids find most standardized tests insulting.

Second, who should get to decide who takes these tests? The kids themselves? No, of course not. It is the administrators’ jobs to determine which students are at risk for needing extra help.

And how should the administrators determine who needs help? Should they arbitrarily pick kids out of the crowd? Of course not. They should find some solid, objective criteria that they can use to assess a potential need for ESL help. Something like… oh, I don’t know, a kid listing something other than English as their first language.

Then, those kids can take the test, and the test can determine if each kid really needs help or not.

Wait, isn’t that the exactly what happened here? Yep, it sure is.

If you ask me, this kid is just looking for something to whine about. So you take the test and you confirm that you are indeed fluent in English. Oh, the injustice! Oh, the travesty! I’m sure she’s scarred for life.

What about the kids who actually do need help with English as their second language? What if the test was voluntary, but these kids were too embarrassed to sign up for it? Or what if it wasn’t offered at all and these kids went without help that they could really use? Either this girl is really selfish and doesn’t care about those kids (who consist of 60% of the student population at Storm Lake High School), or she’d be the first in line to call up the media to complain about that too because she’s just a big whiner.

Either way, this is a ridiculous and non-newsworthy story. This girl is just pissed because the school officials refused to treat her ask special and make an exception for her that they could not make for other students. Kudos to the Storm Lake High School administrators for doing their jobs, treating kids fairly, and trying to help kids who aren’t as fortunate as the whiner.

About the Author

Battleground Iowa has written 182 stories on this site.

Emily Geiger writes from a conservative perspective on everything from politics to religion to pop culture. Like the original Emily of Revolutionary War era, this Emily is delivering important messages crucial to winning the raging war of the time, but today, this is a culture war rather than a traditional one. And, like the original Emily, sometimes it takes a woman to do (or say) that which lesser men lack the courage and tenacity to do.

6 Comments on “Whiners Always Get the Headlines – More on the Storm Lake Storm”

EchoBuster wrote on 9 March, 2009, 5:49
Pretty presumptious of you to call her a whiner on such slim evidence.

I had expected you to criticize the school for needlessly trying to round up more tax money by testing people who obviously needed no help.
Mike C wrote on 9 March, 2009, 8:01
I’ve got to agree with the blog on this one. I read the article in the DM Register and came away with the same impression. What, exactly, was the big deal? The kid listed her first language as a non-English language.

Yeah, tests suck. They ALL suck. The school needs her to take this test to get a certain level of federal funding. Okay. So take the stupid test already. Sheesh.
W. wrote on 9 March, 2009, 8:18
Agree. The DMR should be ashamed. Its not news. She is a whiny student. I didnt want to take tests either. I had to. And I ended up as President.
Iowa Cynic wrote on 9 March, 2009, 9:58
What’s the principle you’re standing for here? I’ll tell you what it is: “Do what you’re told.” Is that what the GOP is all about? Absolutely not. Conservatives are willing to fight like hell against any number of government programs, especially when they involve waste and corruption. Here we have a girl being forced to take a remedial English exam despite being an A student because her school wants to grab more money. This should be a rallying cry for conservatives. But because it involves a foreign language, conservative bloggers have defaulted to plugging their ears and chanting “English English English…” instead of thinking.

If this were about math and not language, conservatives would be standing up for this girl instead of kicking her. What would you say if the school was trying to wring more money out of the system by making an AP Calculus student take a remedial math test because her parents were bad at math? Or an AP Biology student having to take remedial science exams because his parents are creationists? You’d say it was educational beauracracy at its worst, being wasteful and manipulative. And you’d be right.

She’s got a 3.9 GPA and is more proficient in English than most of us here. No other school in the state would be making her take this test (documented by the CR Gazette, I believe). In this instance, the school is trying to pad the results of their testing by making her take an exam that serves no educational purpose. Young people should be applauded for standing up for themselves against such wastefulness.

You and Con Daily are only playing in to conservative stereotypes: xenophobic, culturally tone-deaf authoritarians. I know this isn’t always the case, but you sure do make it tough to convince people otherwise. Until you can show that your principles are stronger than your biases, you’re only heading deeper in to the wilderness.
Scott Miller wrote on 9 March, 2009, 10:01
What this girl is going is harmful to the other students who need help. She wanted special treatment and she didn’t get it. Should other kids not have to take the Iowa Test of Basic Skills just because they don’t want to or because we already know they are smart?
Paul Tanner wrote on 9 March, 2009, 13:44
Is “Emily Geiger” a male? I know it’s not a real name, but this writer feels like one of those people online who assumes a female persona even though they have man meat dangling between their legs (sorry, couldn’t resist).

As for the column, “Emily” doesn’t know what “she’s” talking about. That much is clear. I’m tired of fake writers speaking on behalf of real conservatism. Why can’t we get on talented journalist/writer to work for this site AND put their name next to their words.

I just don’t get it.