Dear Country and Others Online:
      “Education”, reflected in Judge Peoples’ library, is again a top subject of our political and social concerns. Commissions appointed by government usually get their reports accomplished every ten years and since 1970 have formed the basis of public educational problem points to investigate and/or “correct.” Unfortunately, teachers become the focal point of complaints against “education.” ”Many in the teaching profession – if I may call it a “profession” – braced themselves to be “whipped” again for a lack of accountability. However, none of these studies, including the prestigious Carnegie ones, ever set forth specific points to be accountable for – other than for learning. Learning, however, is a “two-way street” and any student who “does not wish to learn cannot be taught anything,” regardless of how creative, inventive, or entertaining a teacher is or can be. Thus, those beautiful researches of education side-stepped even mentioning what “learning is. Yet, all educational systems insist on measuring it – now, by testing students. At least, a little of the pressure on teachers should be relieved – of course, schools are now going to be “whipped” for failing students. When, oh, when is the public educational system going to hold students accountable for not learning. Even on the undergraduate level in universities, students are pampered and allowed to retake failed courses – over and over again. As the public over the past fifty years has railed and condemned teachers, students were learning, as a result, to torture their teachers with classroom misbehavior, cursing, and finally gunshots. A lack of respect for teachers is one of this country’s leading educational problems.
       Teachers learn fast how to “throw the educationese around.” They can set forth long term and short term “goals.” They can describe “learning situations.” They can “rattle off” educational objectives as fast as the multiplication tables. All such pleases administrators, but befuddles parents with “gobbledygook.” My advice to parents – if I were asked – is to study the funding of your child’s school. By and large, property taxes form the basis for funding. School qualification for funds relies on teacher contact hours in the classroom. In other words, each teacher is assigned so many students per day. Let us take 30 as an example. That teacher’s salary and the school’s funding depend on semester contact hours – the hours each student is face-to-face with that teacher. If a student is absent, that school loses contact hours and funding unless the student has parental permission or a parental excuse for the absence. Hence, new law making parents responsible for truancy. Maybe we should have learning situation classes in public schools for parents of students.

                                                                                       May you have pleasant Reading.