The Three Cs of Education

As a professional educator, I will continue to emphasize the three Rs so that my students have the equal opportunities they need to meet the economic challenges of contemporary society. As for the three Cs, I select: compassion, compensation and change.

I strive all of the school year to guide my students toward a compassion for the less fortunate in the community, the nation, and the world.

I continuously work toward greater compensation in status and dollars for myself and my professional colleagues. On a daily basis in the public schools, we defy the odds and educate and motivate children of varying capacities, backgrounds and motivations.

We continuously fight the efforts of people like Bennett to undermine a free public education. If his will be done, the wealthy, the religious orthodoxy, and other selected segments of our society will flee our public schools, leaving them an underfunded institution for the poor and the burgeoning city populations. The vouchers will support an elitist system of education, immoral in the face of the American heritage.

Finally, I will continue to change with the times, while maintaining a basic decency, which I hope to impart to my students. I accept the diversity of the 32 students in my charge. I respect their home-inculcated moral systems and their right to develop their own values through the discussion and dialogue that Bennett denigrates. Intellect does permit students to grope with a society in flux and reach mature decisions. We change within the framework acceptable to our democratic system. We do not turn the clock back and expect the successful teacher to function as he did in Bennett’s childhood. We meet the challenge of today, as do our children.

BARBARA HOPFINGER

Canoga Park