Take a Lesson From Santa Ana

* I am writing in support of your excellent Oct. 5 editorial, “Basically, Santa Ana’s Superintendent is Right.” Given the state of education in the Golden State, Santa Ana’s move should not be the exception. It should become the norm.

Readers know the low rankings of the U.S. internationally in math and science. They also know that California pulls up the bottom nationally in language and math. While Santa Ana has its particular challenges, California as a whole is not that much better off, when one considers the big picture.

Proponents of dumbing down like to use the recent fourth-grade international math results to say things aren’t really all that bad. Ten countries who clobbered us at the eighth-grade level didn’t take the fourth-grade test. Had they, we might well have been back in the middle of the pack.

I share The Times’ concerns regarding music. The connection between music and learning goes all the way back to Plato. But by eliminating a lot of froufrou nonacademic subjects, and low-priority academic ones, I believe that it will free up teacher time and funds to incorporate music downstream.

Similarly, regarding your concerns about history and science, these subjects need not be lost completely. It is quite easy to assign history lessons for reading exercises and science applications for math problems.

Supt. Al Mijares’ plan took political courage. Our great state and our nation need more educators with his priorities and guts. Thanks for backing him up.

BRUCE CRAWFORD

Fountain Valley