Respect for Learning

The authors of “Whatever the Level, Reinforcing Reading is No Joke,” (Ventura County Perspective, April 4) seem to have missed the point of my article, which is stated quite nicely in the cited headline.

I do not intend to get into an acrimonious exchange with people I don’t know, but because the high school where I formerly taught has come under fire in their response, I feel compelled to clarify my article.

First, I did not disparage any student, any particular school, any teacher or any administrator.

Second, I did not state, nor do I believe, that the Read Across America program is a “joke” or that reading Dr. Seuss is a waste of time. Quite the contrary.

I did disparage what was depicted in a photograph, a classroom of high school students being read to by an adult, from a book by Dr. Seuss. The scene seemed to me to portray a lack of respect for learning. That, in essence, was the point of my article.

As to the gratuitous information that La Habra High School has far lower test scores than the classroom depicted, that of course is true but emphasizes another point in my article: Comparisons of scores of schools within the state can be invidious and mean-spirited. My original point was and remains that test scores do not reveal a respect for learning and education and are often irrelevant as to the quality of the school. They also do not reveal moral or intellectual superiority, only that one set of students did better than another set on a specific test.

My belief in the public school system, my fear of the imposition of over-regimentation such as the wearing of uniforms, and my even greater fear of the incorporation of vouchers into education because of public disdain provided the motive for my opinion piece. I deemed the Times photo, as I originally stated, to be bad public relations.

MARY D. DODD

Oxnard