We need to disrupt failing school systems


Calculators and computers are being used more and more in school and in lower grades. Grades are given on a curve based on the highest score rather then being based on individual scores.

Challenge a child to run faster than another child, and he will do his best to outrun that child. School should challenge a child to learn, not make it easy for him to pass the class. Teachers need to excite the interest of the student to learn the subject. School administrators need to keep education as priority one when allocating funds. Extracurricular activities should take the cuts.

Teacher tenure is a hot topic right now. Schools are the only business with tenure. End that practice. A better basis for retaining a teacher is how well they teach students — no shortcuts or image-enhancing grading systems.

A teacher elects to be a teacher while in college and choses an area of specialization such as math or history. They spend four years in college learning to teach. If they don’t enjoy teaching or the pay, then let them get out into the non-academic world and compete with the rest of us.

Two high-school graduates in California sued the school system and the state board of education for failing to educate them. They had been discharged from the Air Force as functional illiterates. The California school system was set up to pass everyone once they passed the third grade regardless of how they did in class.

We need to set standards based on test scores for grades and promotion. We need to weed out poor teachers and reward motivated teachers. We need to excite students to learn. Our society has become more complex since I graduated in 1957; yet, we need to retain and improve basic skills like writing and knowing how we got the answer to a math problem. We need to educate our children to be thinking, responsible, productive citizens and not high-school graduates who depend on computers and calculators to do their work.

David R. Houck

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