Parental Rights
In "Parental Rights: Yes! Parental Rights Legislation: No!" and "Parental Rights Legislation: A Bad Idea" (Nov. 1997), PTA authors dismissed the need for carefully crafted parental rights legislation. Our country has long sought to protect the rights of those who share minority opinions, whether they be conservative or liberal. Why isn't the PTA defending these parents?
I was disappointed that neither of the PTA authors, Arnold F. Fege or Catherine A. Belter, examined the legislation that already provides opt-out rights to parents. For example, Minnesota and Arizona have laws that allow parents to withdraw their children from classes they find objectional for moral for religious reasons. Neither state has had the torrent of expensive lawsuits or designer curriculum problems that the PTA authors imagine. Before telling imaginary horror stories, they should examine states where such legislation is actually working.
—Perry L. Glanzer, Education Policy Analyst, Focus on the Family, Colorado Springs, Colorado
College Admissions and the Arts
In the "Integrating Technology into Teaching" issue (Nov. 1997), educators hailed the pursuit of the arts in school curriculum. Unfortunately, college admissions people do not always agree. Until admissions people begin to see the arts as equal in stature to, say, athletics or science, efforts to integrate the arts into the curriculum aren't going anywhere.
For 33 years, I've been teaching in a highly rated, independent secondary school in which music, art, and drama are taken seriously and produced successfully—despite college counselors' efforts to steer students who want to go to competitive colleges away from the arts, unless such students have already shown great talent. The counselors do that, I've been told, because they know that most college admissions officers will recalculate students' general and class ranks without the art, music, and drama grades. Until that changes, faculty will regard the arts as merely nice but not of primary importance in college admissions and, further, as having a "watering down" effect on an otherwise rigorous courseload.
—James Winston Smith, Music Director, The Mercersburg Academy, Mercersburg, Pennsylvania
Education as a Profession?
When we think of professionals, lawyers, physicians, and architects usually come to mind. They have specialized competencies—including a strong intellectual ability—and commitment to their careers. Professionals display a service orientation to clients. Educators are also dedicated to their clients, but the similarities to other professions end there.
Professionals are likely to be governed by the internalized standards of their field, established as part of the collegiality created during their professional preparation. There is little equivalent collegiality among educators. When a disagreement arises, educators look to organizational judgment—the bureaucracy—for a decision. Professionals refer more often to colleagues.
Being a "good" teacher has as many meanings as there are students. For students, the common denominator among good teachers is caring. A pre-requisite seems to be for teachers to care enough about themselves to be reflective, introspective, and self-critical. How can we become more professional? That doesn't happen when educators say, "I'm already a professional. I don't have to change. My students have to change. I'm not responsible if I don't get them to learn."
—Ed Meyer, Fairfield, Connecticut
Letters Online
Integrating technology into teaching and learning was the topic in the "Talk to the EL Authors" online forum Nov. 17-21. Paul Gilster and Sheldon Berman, whose articles on the subject appeared in EL (Nov. 1997), fielded questions and comments. Here are a few excerpts:
Sheila Margolis. My daughter is conducting research on the use of technology in the classroom. She wanted someone to help her define technology. What does technology in the classroom include?
Sheldon Berman. Technology is everything from pencils and chalk to graphing calculators and computers to audiovisual equipment. Technology is simply a technical method of achieving a solution. It's essentially an application of science. What we're talking about in this forum is computer technology and the software tools and communication networks that are expanding the utility of the computer in the classroom.
Paul Gilster. Technology encompasses the things we use to make education happen. What we've got to wrestle with in the classroom is how to leverage the connectivity provided by today's computers and get something worthwhile. We must not forget previous standards of excellence in our rush to embrace new technologies.
Sheldon Berman. In my district, we have been tying computer technology applications into key elements of the curriculum. We are piloting three new science programs, each of which can be adapted so that technology is an integral part. In the Virtual High School, we use word processing and the Internet to deliver high-quality, advanced instruction in many areas.
Visit ASCD's Web site (http://www.ascd.org) for future EL forums.
