Social Promotion
Re “Gubernatorial Hopefuls Stress Education Goals,” Nov. 23:
I was greatly encouraged by the statement that the prospective gubernatorial candidates from the Democratic Party all favor “ending ‘social promotion’ of students who do not meet minimum standards.”
As a pre-doctoral instructor and teaching assistant in the Department of Sociology at UC Santa Barbara, I have graded literally thousands of student papers over the past four years. I can say without exaggeration that, based on the writing samples, the majority of my the first- and second-year students appear to have had no prior classes in grammar, style or English mechanics. I spend hours working with them, feverishly trying to prepare them for a work force in which it will be their minds, not their hands, that will determine their success or failure.
We certainly must put a stop to “social promotion,” and concomitantly revolutionize our pedagogical approach.
JUDI A. KESSLER
Santa Barbara
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