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Make Optional

 The only time some kids got to read and think about science writing might have been in the ACT.  It did not require any great knowledge or core understanding of science - more a test of science literacy. Can the person read an essay that explores a topic systematically and presents data to back the reasoning. But now they don't even have to bother. If high-school science is not the strength they have to "showcase" then they are free to go a different direction. Why not complete the job by making reading and counting optional as well. 

What is to say the student will have any strengths there either. Maybe they can demonstrate their social media prowess instead. The problem with such efforts ostensibly to help students out, many more will struggle to get into college and complete their education. Needless to say, they will not be prepared for the real world where such "help" stops being available. Meanwhile, there will be a category of students who won't need to care what the ACT includes because they have completed two years of college level courses while still in high-school. The ones who opted out of basic science literacy will never catch up to the population moving way faster in an entirely different lane. 

By making such moves, we will only make sure that graduating high-schoolers will have no data literacy to assess if what they are being told is true or not. That is a terrible handicap to have.

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