English Standards

Re “National Standards Offered to Guide English Teachers,” March 12: All the new English standards can be summarized in one sentence: “Competent, well-informed and literate teachers with required cultural background will teach students to read and write fluently and will encourage further improvement of those skills.”

Once that is done, and properly assimilated in the student’s brain, all else will come automatically: comprehension, communication, understanding of other cultures, etc. You need to know how to read to operate a computer.

GERMAN C. SONNTAG

Santa Monica