Half of American Schools Failed Federal Standards (FoxNews.com)

One of the messages I'm taking away from this article (see link below) is that we're willing to lower our expectation of the education system. It's as true now as it was then. The "No Kids Left Behind" legislation was horrible. But in some ways the law, its poor construction, implementation and yes, our inability to at least make some headway toward increasing the quality of primary & secondary education, points to a larger problem. The expectations we have of our students.
We should expect students to meet minimum competency levels in math, English, science, etc. And these minimum competencies should be consistent across the entire country. We most definitely should expect our educators to get the students up to speed. Be clear about the consequences of failure, and hold the education system as well as the students' guardians and the students themselves responsible.

I'm failing to see the problem with this. It seems easy. Here are the educational goals (and I'm talking detail here). This is how you show you have accomplished the goals (even more detail here). Have you accomplished the goal? Yes or No? If someone reaches the level of expected competency, give 'em a smile and pass them on to the next level. If someone doesn't reach the level of competency required, then there must be remediation. And remediation must continue until the student reaches that minimum level of competency. If it can never be reached because, heaven forbid, we all have different intellectual abilities, then I guess that individual has progressed as far as he or she is able.

"But Dor, there are all these kids out there who are disadvantaged in some way." You are correct. There are. And we should help them reach the level of competency that is set FOR EVERYONE. It may take longer. It may require of us to be creative and flexible, but we should not waiver on our expectations.
Do we understand that when we allow different levels of competence to mean the same thing (e.g., a High School Diploma from one state is "better" than another state) that we cheapen and distort the intrinsic meaning of the achievement? It seems to me most people don't understand that. And my sense is most people don't care. It's fortunate they don't care because then they won't be troubled with the fact that their legislators are about to embark on yet another education boondoggle that won't address the real issue - competency requirements in education.

Link to article: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/12/14/report-nearly-half-american-schools-failed-federal-standards/