Mailbag: No Grinch needed to steal Laguna Christmas

Four weeks ago, Laguna Beach hosted Hospitality Night on Forest Avenue. Visitors left the event with an illusion of buzzing nightlife, food concessions, open galleries and a crowd of visiting patrons.

Last Saturday night, I walked down the same Forest Avenue to find the block lit up by Christmas lights. Cars packed every available parking space, but not a soul was there, not even a Grinch. The stores were closed to patrons, so there were no business sales; the parking meters clocked out at 7 p.m., providing no more city revenue.

In Europe and progressive cities, this scene is completely reversed even in winter; downtown streets are full of vendors selling hot wine and finger food, on-street parking is replaced with tables and chairs, and, yes, eateries are open for business. Downtowns in Europe’s tourist-driven cities warm up at 10 p.m., or try Seattle’s and Pasadena’s old towns.

With established L.B. businesses fleeing Laguna at every lease-cycle, our city needs to rethink the use of downtown as a community business district instead of a free parking lot.

Les Miklosy

Laguna Beach

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We have multiple choices on testing

The testing frenzy that has for so long plagued the nation’s schooling systems is analogous to taking an ailing person’s temperature again and again in the hope that such repeated efforts will have a mitigating affect on the measurement.

Testing in its current standardized form began as a measure of school reform but eventually came to be thought of and practiced as the reform itself. Instead of focusing on testing, perhaps we can now put the emphasis on teaching.

After all, since its inception, testing in American schools has been a controversial practice. At the turn into the 20th century, French psychologist Alfred Binet developed a standardized test of intelligence. It eventually evolved into today’s version of the IQ test and became officially known as the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. By the time the caissons of World War I began rolling along, standardized testing was becoming an ubiquitous part of American schooling.

But testing is not synonymous with learning. To learn most effectively, students require a curriculum that is relevant, involves them as active participants and emphasizes critical thinking (i.e., problem-solving skills). Testing need not and should not be eliminated, but it does need to be minimized, and then rethought and re-calibrated to the learning outcomes that reflect a meaningful and life-enhancing curriculum.

Mark Twain once remarked that he never let his schooling interfere with his education. We as teachers, parents and community members should not allow testing to interfere with, but instead, complement the educational process.

Ben Miles

Huntington Beach