To the Editor:
Re “One
Classroom, From Sea to Shining Sea,” by Susan Jacoby (Op-Ed, March
19):
The framers of the Constitution believed that, more than as a matter
of tradition or convenience, states were best suited to meet the
everyday needs of their citizens.
Contrary to Ms. Jacoby’s assertion, the purpose of education is not
meeting “the needs of a 21st-century nation competing in a global
economy,” but preparing young people to lead successful personal and
professional lives and to become informed and caring participants in a
democratic society. If education fulfills that purpose, it can’t help
but raise the economic status of the nation also.
Despite the errors made by state and local boards in managing
schools, they are right more often than the federal government. Not
because they are smarter, but because they are closer to the successes,
failures and needs of their students and more affected by them.
Anyone who thinks that the Department of Education or experts
appointed to federal panels should be designing curriculum and tests for
all—or even any—students should reflect for a moment on the
failures of No Child Left Behind.
Joanne Yatvin
Portland, Ore., March 19, 2010
The writer is a retired teacher, principal and
district superintendent, still teaching prospective teachers at Portland
State University and writing books for practicing teachers.
Note from KBJ: Progressives can't control people unless they control minds, and they can't control minds unless they control the places in which minds are cultivated, namely, schools. Think about it.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 