L.A. School Promotions

Re “L.A. Schools Brace for Task of Holding Back Thousands,” Jan. 31: As a public school teacher in the inner city, I can state with confidence that very few of us “fear tough policy on promotions” as your subhead states. Most of us would be elated to actually grade students as they deserve.

To come to high school, all a student has to do is get a D in his or her last semester of eighth-grade English. They can still fail every other class. I cannot imagine a less-tough standard for promotion.

Unfortunately, most students (and most people) only do just enough to get by. Students are accustomed to automatic promotion, so many of them do no work at all and are shocked when they aren’t promoted after reaching high school. The logistics are difficult, but requiring a certain competency to pass to the next level is the only way we will ever really improve education.

TODD ENGLE

Los Angeles

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Bravo for teacher May Yee and her “minority opinion” about the futility of forcing students to repeat grades in school. Grade retention has been tried before and proved to be an unproductive, if not damaging strategy to improve student achievement. Repeating a grade will only diminish our students’ self-confidence, bore them with repeated content and stigmatize them with their peers.

Educators need encouragement and support for reconceiving schools and for strengthening school-home relationships. We need to spend education dollars on making school a vibrant place for children, full of opportunities to gain interesting experiences that motivate children to learn.

NONNIE KORTEN

Los Angeles