Readers Earn an A; Columnist Still Learning

It has been three years since this column made its debut. Despite initial concerns, I’ve been able to teach school and still deal with the reality of newspaper deadlines.

Once that issue was settled, a more pressing question arose: Would anybody be interested in what I had to say? After all, I’m not a professor, administrator, consultant or school board member. My perspective is based solely on time spent in the classroom.

As it turned out, a wide range of people have been willing to listen to a teacher talk about education. But far more important, they have responded . . . in letters, in e-mails, in voice mails. And I have indeed read every letter (even from the guy who accused me of being a communist agent) and listened to every voice mail (even the English teacher in Mission Viejo who ran out the tape three times).

These messages have been informative and heartfelt, full of ideas, frustrations, victories and defeats.

Just as teachers inevitably learn from their students, writers learn from their readers.

In response to my column on reducing class size, one freshman at Cal State Northridge put a different spin on the problem. She admitted she had quit trying in high school because she hadn’t received enough individual attention from the teacher. In retrospect, however, she placed the blame squarely on herself: “If our classes are big, then we have to work with that reality. Getting a good education is really up to the student, and you can’t give up if things don’t go your way. Going it on your own makes you an independent learner and prepares you for college where you’re probably not going to get any attention at all.”

Some letters were reassuring, especially about the options available to students. An enthusiastic Huntington Beach science teacher reported that 52 out of 53 students at his school had passed the AP Biology test that year, and many of those who did well were not necessarily “honors” students. Although only 2 1/2 years of science are required, all students are encouraged to take a four full years of science regardless of what academic track they’re on. Of his AP science class, he wrote, “I can’t remember the last time I checked to see if one of my students was an ‘honors’ student or not.”

There were many responses to my column on civility between students on campus, but perhaps none more insightful than that of a board member from the El Segundo Unified School District. This person questioned the time-honored custom of equally punishing kids who get into a fight at school, regardless of who is really at fault.

As she put it, “The mean children lose nothing they aren’t willing to sacrifice anyway, but good children can lose their reputation, class time, school honors and most importantly a respect for the rules. It takes time to unravel an ‘incident,’ but that’s what fairness requires.”

The piece about young people not opting to teach drew a big response, but a woman in Oxnard spoke up for a group I had ignored, the older person considering teaching as career. “Not all of us becoming teachers are young, fresh, and just out of college. I don’t think the general public has any idea of what it takes to become a teacher now. It’s not just a fifth year of college, but involves extensive unpaid student teaching and a number of rigorous and expensive tests. For those of us who have our own lives, and children ourselves, becoming a teacher is extraordinarily demanding.”

The complexities surrounding cheating brought mail from both teachers and students. One teacher roundly condemned parents who punished their children for bad grades. “If Johnny is grounded for getting a ‘C’ in math, he now has even further motivation to cheat. The ones to blame for a child’s lack of integrity are their parents. As long as they continue to reward the result rather than the process, this lesson will continue to foster cheating as a way to get those results.”

Readers have also provided firsthand reports about programs I’ve always been curious about. A student from Tustin wrote an impassioned letter about the benefits of AVID (Achievement Via Individual Determination) at her high school. She explain that it’s “not for kids in AP classes, but for kids that just need an extra shove to get into college.”

The program makes rigorous demands on the students who choose to join, including commitments on doing a certain amount of homework and studying each night, and tracking their progress in a workbook that must be handed in for review each week. She then went on to say that this program is “the only thing that is making sure I’m still in the game. No, I’m not able to take ceramics and keyboarding with my friends, but because of my success in AVID I find that I can actually enjoy the fun I do have more.”

An interesting way of putting it, but I know exactly what she means.

And finally, thanks to readers, I’ve discovered some terrific poetry. After my column about high school students’ literary favorites, an unusually well-read gentleman sent in some of his own choices, including two poems by Emily Dickinson I had not known. I immediately went to my Dickinson collection, but found it woefully lacking. Next stop, the local bookstore for a more comprehensive volume.

So thank you, sir, for introducing me to “I’ll Tell You How the Sun Rose” and the wonderful “Wild Nights.”

With feedback as inspiring as this, it’s no wonder I’ll be back in September--once again trying to balance the demands of the classroom with this column. My readers keep me informed and in touch and, as the young lady from Tustin put it, “make sure I’m still in the game.”