12/1/98
Opelika * Auburn News* THE NEWSPAPER OF EAST ALABAMA*12/1/98
Letter: YRS won't solve school problems
I read Mr. N.S. Malladi's letters to the editor. I wish I could feel that nonchalant about YRS (Year Round School). I do not have Mr. Malladi's background, but I want to respond to his ideas. My background is education.
He noted that although a committee had recommended YRS in 1992, it was not implemented and the "high percentage" of "at risk" students at ACS had remained the same. He thought a revision appropriate.
Remaining the same sounds entirely plausible. "High percentage" does not. The Auburn school situation is changing with the influx of new students, but there have not been that many. There are no large groups of a foreign-speaking element here. Most people speak English. There are no large elements of dialect speaking groups which prevent youngsters from mastering English, the basis for a success in an English speaking community.
There are no large pockets of city crime.
Although parental education and a better economic situation do not guarantee a good student, Auburn has been very fortunate. It is a university town. Most of the parents have some college or a degree or two or more degrees. Most are employed above the poverty level and can and do pro vide educational advantages for their children. A large number of this area's children are members of or participants in church.
The effect of coming from families where better conduct is expected and taught is a tremendous advantage to the children. The teachers in the Auburn school system were not only professionally prepared, they are dedicated to their jobs. The Auburn Bulletin and the Opelika-Auburn News have depicted the success of students in the public schools here. I do not know where the idea came that there was a "high" at risk. An appropriate revision might be. Consider the question: Why should any American public school child be at risk? There must be a cause or causes. Do you hear of foreign schools with "at risk" students? How about private and parochial schools? They select their students.
Mr. Malladi noted that with long-distance learning teachers could finish their advanced training by Internet and not attend universities. I had a bachelor of science degree in education when I began teaching. Later, I worked full-time, teaching during the spring and fall semesters. I worked part-time during the summer. With the help of scholarships, I obtained a master's degree in educational administration at the Graduate School, Tulane University, New Orleans.
Teaching is a full-time profession. One cannot teach and depend upon having the blocks of time necessary to pursue advanced training. It is more than book learning.
I do not know where Mr. Malladi got the idea of restructuring and building maintenance being done during the summer. Ask some of the teachers who have tried to teach class with a power saw ripping a board in the next room.
My worries about YRS are as follows: YRS does not seek out and eliminate the causes of "at risk" students. Neither does it pro vide a way out for the non-academically inclined child. Foreign nations do not have "at risk" students. The dual program offers more than academica only. There are 14 or l 5 different types of learning of which the human brain, if normal, is capable. Programs that address other abilities offer foreign students an opportunity to leave school at ages of 13 or 14 years with some two or three years in training in an area in which the child has been prepared to make a living.
At present, with retention and the stress on academics only, a student may have been retained for mastery of the subject matter which did not happen and may be of the legal age to withdraw from school before he/she ever reaches a vocational class to help him/her to learn how to make a living. The schools which are cooperating with businesses to give students an opportunity to actually learn and work in a business are very effective. In some schools, vocational training has consisted of reading from a book about a profession. This does not give first-hand experience.
Heavy emphasis on more academics for those with a problem learning can be and has been proven dangerous. Suppressed rage has exploded in heinous juvenile crimes. Teen suicides have increased, and worst of all, there is often no noticeable improvement.
The American public schools have been falsely accused of not measuring up to the achievement of the .schools of foreign nations. Our educational leaders from Washington, D.C., either did not know or they were intent on destroying the image of the | public schools. It seems as though it may be the latter I since instead of any remedies they wanted to pro mote vouchers or parental choice for schools.
What they did not tell the public was: They were comparing the achievement scores of the test-passing honor students of the foreign schools with the scores of all our students. In foreign nations, some nations beginning as early as the fourth and fifth grades, stringent tests are given. The students who pass are allowed to continue in academic classes. Those who fail academics are given opportunities in other areas to develop their potentials.
We need magnet schools early on for opportunities to develop potentials in many types of learning. The tests continue through senior high school. By eliminating those students who are not academically inclined (do not or cannot pass the tests) the achievement scores remain very high. Isn't that to be expected?
And something else the leaders upon whom we depended for information did not tell us. Foreign nations were not the only schools that selected their pupils. Private and parochial schools set high entrance requirements, requiring first graders to pass reading readiness tests.
Every "at risk" is an individual case, often of complex factors. We need to remedy our approach to solving the needs of those students. YRS has not proven itself. While it has helped in some cases, it has no advantage in others, particularly for the student who is constantly challenged to measure up in academics when other pro grams would offer real opportunities.
Some very sincere and dedicated teachers hoped to try YRS. For years they have hoped against hope for some panacea to the most difficult and heart breaking of all problems, attempting to find some way to meet the needs of a child who has not succeeded academically when others beside him have. But we have no magic wands. Additional pressure to perform is questionable. Other potentials need opportunity to develop.
Paulinea K. RobillardAuburn