Trust in Students Will Be Rewarded

* I wholeheartedly agree with Adrienne Mack (“Community Partnership Would Benefit Students,” Oct. 1) that to successfully educate all our youngsters we must involve the entire community, parents, and especially students.

But we don’t need to wait for magic to accomplish this. It’s happening in schools all around us, as the “canon” is expanded, the absurd division of education into 45-minute “periods” changes to block and flexible scheduling, and the strengths, interests, and experiences of the students begin to be recognized.

A look at any successful program involving “at-risk” students shows us that success depends on small groups of young people working in a family-like atmosphere with adults they know well enough to trust. It depends on teachers with the courage to throw out educational methods and materials that don’t work, no matter how good they are, and allow the students to help plan the curriculum. Above all, it depends on teachers who respect the intellectual abilities of all students, regardless of how badly they’ve done in the past or how uneducated their parents are.

Over and over, I’ve seen students become empowered and self-motivated and surpass all professional evaluations of their academic potential. Our students are capable of creativity and brilliance beyond our wildest imaginings if we are brave enough to dismantle the structures that stifle them.

NORAH CUNNINGHAM

Pacoima