Their View: Hope that new logo works out
You would think that airlines, more than most institutions, would reject superstition in their operations. However, that is not always the case, if Brussels Airlines is any case.
The startup Belgian carrier adopted as its logo a stylized letter “b” formed by 13 balls, the number being thought apt because it reflected the number of Brussels' destinations in Africa.
Not a big deal, right? Especially since the airline doesn't even begin flying until March 25.
Wrong. The airline was forced to change the logo because of numerous complaints from superstitious would-be passengers in Italy and - oh, the shame of it - the United States.
So the airline, not wanting to offend travelers even before it had a chance to make them wait on the runway for 10 hours, repainted the logo to include 14 balls. Twelve was ruled out for fear of offending the devout by a possible reference to the 12 apostles. And, as the Associated Press points out, even the 14 will have to go if the airline starts flying to China, because that number is considered especially unlucky there.
So let's hope the new logo works out for Brussels, and that the carrier has a long, safe and prosperous life and all its delays are short ones.
Knock wood.
- Dale McFeatters,
Scripps Howard News Service
Grades up, scores down
The Issue: High school students getting weak test scores
Their View: Schools may be shortchanging students
A standard measure of educational progress shows that American high-school students are taking more challenging courses and receiving high grades but getting weaker test scores.
The obvious explanation seems the most likely one: Grade inflation and courses whose titles only sound tough.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress, a respected test given periodically to 12th-graders, found that only 35 percent of seniors tested proficient or better in reading, the lowest since 1992, and that only 23 percent were proficient in math.
However, over the last 15 years, the average high-school senior's grade point average rose from 2.68 to 2.98 on a scale of 4.0, and the percentage of students taking a standard curriculum of college-prep courses rose from 31 percent to 58 percent.
These findings, if borne out, show that despite repeated reforms, our secondary-education system is sliding ever so slightly backward. It suggests that school systems may be improving their students' grades by simply giving them better grades and increasing enrollment in college-prep classes by dumbing down the contents.
The sad part of this is that the students are being cheated in an implicit promise made to them when they sign up for advanced or college-prep courses.
Fortunately, Congress is in a position to do something about this disparity between promises and performance when it takes up reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act this year.
- Dale McFeatters,
Scripps Howard News Service
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