Kudos to Sandra Carlson for her superb letter relating today’s school problems to some of the ill-fated “new” educational programs of past decades, against which so many parents struggled in vain (Voice of the people, May 27). Kudos also to State Schools Supt. Glenn “Max” McGee for holding fast against modification of the recently adopted standard tests. Such tests do serve up evidence of the shortfall and should guide educators to scrap failed initiatives.
Because the education field is complex, it is tempting to leave it to the “experts.” But perhaps parents and concerned citizens can step up to help by backing the efforts to develop standards as well as the stiffer local programs required to meet them. More important, we could support the efforts of administrators and teachers to beef up curricula, and to resist daily diversions that drain time from the tasks at hand.
We also need to recognize that the challenge facing teachers to get the students to do the work can be very difficult in an environment in which students are saturated with much more appealing entertainment at every juncture.
