School Frills

I would like to answer John Hergesheimer’s question in his letter (Nov. 29) regarding the teaching of geography.

What do we drop so we can teach geography?

We drop the entertainment frills that sabotage our school system from kindergarten through the university.

Since educators cannot meet all the needs of all students, priorities must be chosen, and in my 29 years of public school teaching extracurricular frills have always been given priority.

Are frills so sacred that no one dares to suggest that they be diminished so that time can be scheduled for intellectual subject matter like geography?

Perhaps extracurricular activities have replaced religion or some kind of spirituality since there is no greater blasphemy than to suggest that “school spirit” encompass excellence in academic skills in the classroom.

If our students were encouraged to express the same zeal for geography as they do for sports, fund-raisers, cheerleading, baton twirling, band tournaments, clubs and student government, our school system would be well on its way to significant reform.

GILBERT A. RUBIO

Arcadia