Minimally Adequate Education

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Minimally Adequate Education in the State of South Carolina

In the state of South Carolina, public school's students are educated on the basis of a minimally adequate education. South Carolina legislators have interpreted the definition for minimally adequate education, given by the South Carolina Supreme Court, into curriculum requirements for students across the state. South Carolina legislators’ curriculum expectations for graduating high school students are below average. In relation, the students of South Carolina are being hindered from seeing and reaching their full potential by being “normed” to do below average work. Minimally adequate education provides a foundation for inequity in schools and leaves students unprepared for higher education or professional work after high school. If minimally adequate education is left unchanged it will create larger social and cultural dilemmas. The concept of minimally adequate education in South Carolina’s educational system must be changed to better the lives of South Carolina’s students and to prevent them from being hindered by continuing to “norm” them to low expectations.

In the Abbeville et al. versus the state of South Carolina case, Abbeville demanded more funding from the state for the school districts that were not being provided with extra money through their property taxes. Abbeville argued for more state funding by proposing that their students were not acquiring an adequate education compared to that of students in wealthier districts (Abbeville 4). Abbeville et al. claimed the state violated “the South Carolina Constitution's education clause (art. XI, § 3), the state and federal equal protection clauses, and a violation of the Education Finance Act (EFA)” (Abbevi...

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...thevoiceforschoolchoice.wordpress.com/2008/11/07/south-carolina-high-school-assessment-program-hsap-scores-released/>.

3. Click, Carolyn. "20 Years Later, Debate Rages on over ‘minimally Adequate’ Education."Www.thestate.com. The State, 16 Sept. 2012. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. .

4. Curriculum Requirements."2010 SAT Scores by State." Commonwealth Foundation. South Carolina Department of Education, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. .

5. Monk, John. "'Corridor of Shame' Debated before SC Supreme Court ‘Rural Ghettos’ Entrap Poorest Black Children, Attorney Argues." Www.thestate.com. The State, 19 Sept. 2012. Web. 24 Feb. 2014. .

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