Comparing Kindergartens

Re “School Too Structured, Visitors Say,” Class Notes, March 7.

Concerning the observations of visiting Japanese student teachers at Valley Alternative Magnet School and the reactions of the school’s staff, school administrator Rhona Feldman should not be overly impressed with her own students’ performance, as compared to that of Japanese kindergartners, that she credits to “the agenda that America is pushing.”

Studies done over the past two decades, prior to America’s new educational agenda, have shown that American kindergartners have had equal or superior scores to those of Japanese kindergartners on a variety of tests. These studies have also shown that by the end of first grade, Japanese children’s scores have leapfrogged over the scores of their American peers. And the gap only widens as the years progress.

PAUL BURNS

Granada Hills