Saturday's letters: Invest in children
Published: Saturday, June 14, 2014 at 4:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, June 13, 2014 at 3:04 p.m.
To the editor: Regarding the June 1 article concerning challenges ahead due to increasing poverty levels for Henderson County Public Schools, I am unable to wrap my mind around the proposed solution of buying extra books for the classroom.
An extensively stocked classroom library doesn’t necessarily equate to more effective teaching or greater literacy development. If a football team needs specific training or more intense practices, would funding simply provide more footballs as the solution?
Over the years, like a pendulum, reading approaches have gone back and forth. Reading Recovery, a research-based 1:1 intensive intervention program for first-graders, is slated to be eliminated from HCPS’ Title 1 budget.
It takes a chunk of the funds to incorporate and implement Reading Recovery. However, helping to build a child’s self-esteem, planting seeds of literacy, developing problem-solving techniques and unlocking confusion are unparalleled. More books for the classroom are helpful but not impactful.
I don’t have a dog in this fight. However, I do want to see HCPS invest in children, not just books. Their smiles and the brightness in their eyes when the “ah-ha” moment of making connections registers is priceless.
Dartha B. Ashe
To the editor: I appreciated the editorial, “Help schools lift kids out of poverty” (June 8). It is clear that we must do more to ensure that all children receive a quality education and an opportunity for a brighter future, particularly those struggling in poverty.
It is also clear that the global community is not doing enough for kids around the world. There are currently 57 million kids not in school — no reading, no writing, no math — nothing. And nearly 40 percent of all children of grade school age cannot read or do basic math because of poor-quality education. That means a first-grader in Hendersonville is already better educated than 40 percent of the world’s children. How many of the 40 percent will join extremist groups out of desperation?
The U.S. can help put the world on the right path to global education at the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) pledging conference on June 26. GPE is seeking $3.5 billion to put 29 million kids in school over the next four years. A U.S. contribution of $250 million over two years would show leadership.
We owe all children a proper education — it’s the right thing, and the smart thing.
Director of global Grassroots Advocacy, RESULTS
To the editor: The June 9 Times-News had a story stating that Gov. Pat McCrory is pressing for revision of perhaps draconian Senate bills to reform education in North Carolina. Rep. Chuck McGrady also remains active in this.
Media seem to me lax in reporting which court has ruled that repealing tenure for teachers is unconstitutional, on what grounds, and the status of any pending appeals. (This must be the N.C. Constitution, not the U.S. Constitution.) By virtue of “force majeure,” governments virtually always have authority to revoke contracts that ill-serve public interest.
A letter in the June 9 paper decries that but doesn’t explain how teachers would be paying “most of the cost” for 11 percent pay increases they’d get by choosing to trade tenure for merit pay increases.
New N.C. legislation also portends that the Board of Education will install school curriculum standards at variance with the nation’s Common Core. Hopefully, these criteria will at least match Common Core and will apply also to charter schools, which are becoming the nation’s non-union public school systems.
Some N.C. leaders seem determined that we have economical education systems that keep our youths and children competitive nationwide and worldwide. Surely we all hope they succeed.
David M. Hudelson