Political Agenda in the Classroom
Kip Dellinger’s letter (Times, Oct. 15) accuses Santa Monica High School teachers of having a common political agenda. He could not be more mistaken. We differ dramatically on almost every issue except one--our determination to provide a first-rate education for students.
This is our agenda. To accuse the school of shrinking from honest discourse is absurd. I invite Mr. Dellinger to visit our classes, where he could in one day hear students discussing authors as varied as Sophocles, Sandra Cisneros, Homer, Ralph Ellison, Richard Wright and Shakespeare. This hardly sounds like a radical curriculum to me.
We want our students to graduate believing in the strength of diversity, not fearful of differing opinion, as Mr. Dellinger seems to be.
CAROL JAGO
Santa Monica
Jago is chair of the English Department at Santa Monica High School .
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