Education Reform

Starts With Better Teachers

To the Editor:

I am writing in response to the commentary in the May 11 issue of The Newtown Bee, entitled “It’s Cheaper To Test Than To Teach.” Initially, the column appears to suggest that national politicians will never be able to do what is necessary to effectively improve education in the US, as evidenced by their current proposal of a high school graduation exam. However, instead of acknowledging that the educational crisis deserves to be dealt with on a local level and by actual educators and parents rather than national legislators, the column implies that the solution is to dump tax dollars not into tests, but into “prenatal care, good nutrition, decent housing, skilled child care, clean environment, universal health care, [and] integration.” What do any of these platitudes have to do with teaching? They sound more like a Gore campaign ad.

Rather than support Bush’s (if somewhat futile) quest for accountability in education, it is suggested by the columnist that we waste the taxpayer’s money so that the government can interfere with a parent’s natural responsibility for the upbringing of a child. Schools ought to be places where students can acquire the basic education that life might necessitate, not morals, political correctness, or the mandate of popular culture.

Testing is ridiculous in the state of Connecticut. Preparation for and actual administering of the CAPT, the test taken by Connecticut high school sophomores, consumes nearly a month of valuable classroom time, yet in no way benefits the students. No new material is learned specifically for the test, nor does the test affect class grades or college acceptance.

Politicians and many parents are all too eager to support any legislation or funding to “booster” education. However, students do not learn from the money appropriated for buying the fastest computers, or brand new tests, they learn from teachers.

Only parents, teachers, and students, the victims of public education, are able to make the reforms that can restore the value of primary and secondary education in America: better teachers and more challenging curricula.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Corbeil,

Newtown High School senior

8 Monitor Hill Road, Newtown                                    May 20, 2001