Letters

Student Rights
I am as appalled as anyone by student violence in schools, and I understand the need for procedures to prevent such violence. However, some of those preventive measures seem to be trampling the First Amendment rights of students (Rights Watch, February).

I'm even more appalled at the reaction of NEA, as expressed in your sidebar on police reaction. How can you encourage school officials to "take action if they believe that a student might commit acts of violence"? Since when can we punish people for what someone believes they might do? Have we flushed the Constitution down the drain?

When students are arrested, jailed, and even convicted for expressing their thoughts in diaries, journals, and student writing, we've crossed the line. The result will be a generation of students who have learned not to put such thoughts on paper, but to keep them to themselves. And then we'll have no clues about what action students are considering.

Isn't it more logical to use such writings as a reason to monitor the behavior of these students? And I make a distinction between monitoring and "taking action."

Frank Witty
Winter Springs, Florida

In Praise of Mentors
I think the Beginning Teacher Network Program that a Missouri district has implemented (Learning, February) is an excellent way to help first-year teachers receive the support and direction they need.

I was involved in a mentorship program my first year of teaching and found it extremely beneficial.

The program gave me the opportunity to share my struggles and joys with a veteran teacher who offered endless tips and tricks that helped me complete my first-year with great success.

Mentorship programs can offer positive growth for first year teachers, veteran teachers, and the school district as a whole.

Jennifer Bolluyt
Fargo, North Dakota

Reading Debate
RE: Margaret Patterson, Ph.D. (February Debate).

I don't get it. How can someone live in today's educational system and claim that there is only one "zippit" who doesn't tap? I want one of those classes. I want to know how anyone who teaches is not a teacher of reading.

Whether it's math or fiction, economics or E-mail, everyone teaches reading. And the more trained we are, the better. It doesn't take a stack of classes, just do a little reading of your own.

What is more important than any subject taught? My take is: If a student doesn't read, the rest is wasted motion.

Randall Youngren
Ellensburg, Washington

Librarians And Reading
As a full-time school librarian and a part-time public librarian, I was surprised to see no mention of librarians in your (February) "Read Across America" article. We school librarians are teachers too and an integral part of reading in every school. More than one study has proven the positive link between school librarians and student achievement.

Where do you think classroom teachers and administrators turn to for help in carrying out such reading programs? I think you owe every school librarian an apology for this omission.

Stephanie Bucalo
North Babylon, New York

Wrong Number?
Never have I been so outraged as I am now after reading Lynn Bonsey's article ("Dial T for Teacher," January). I cannot believe that the NEA would feature such an anti-union article.

Since when is it a good idea to work for nothing? Your union should be explaining to you that our time is valuable! We do not work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Every activity mentioned in this article, from giving advice to changing due dates on assignments, can and should be accomplished during the school day.

Your lawyer bills you for his time. Your doctor bills you for his time. Your plumber bills you for his time. So it must be for teachers!

If this is the "New Unionism" then we need new leadership at the top of the NEA!

Michael Wyler
Plainview, New York

I teach physics and chemistry at a small high school in DeWitt, Arkansas. I encourage my students to call me at home. Also, I have constructed my own Web page (www.webspinners.futura.net/apurdy) where my students can get daily assignments, grades, and other information.

All of my students do not take advantage of the Web page, but those who do love it. The parents also like it because they have access to grades without having to go through the school, and they can E-mail me any questions they have.

Audrey Purdy
DeWitt, Arkansas

I read with interest Lynn Bonsey's article suggesting benefit from giving out a teacher's home phone number. I can't think of a worse idea. Perhaps her rural Maine setting makes this idea somewhat safer for her. However, I think this raises some very real personal safety issues for many teachers.

If a student doesn't understand problem #3 on page 117, is it really so important that the student call a teacher at home rather than wait until the next day?

I suggest a voice mail system similar to one my PTA has paid for. The parent or student can key a teacher's extension to hear assignments or leave a question.

Mark Heinze
San Diego, California

Vouchers
I can understand the position some take to fight school vouchers with all their might, but we have to be realistic. Home schooling is growing. Vouchers are gathering support from parents. Private schools are becoming state-chartered, and parents are sending kids to them.

We cannot ignore the message these parents are sending us. Every time public school proponents yell about chartered schools, vouchers, and home schooling, they are shooting themselves in the foot and antagonizing the parents we want to bring their kids back into the public schools.

What happened to the very sound principle of "Copy Success"? We have to look at these school alternatives and see why they are succeeding. If public schools don't eat some humble pie soon, they will be eating crow.

Caroline Zimmermann
Indio, California

Teacher Preparation
While I understand the value in having a diversity of opinions expressed in NEA Today, I can't let Leon Botstein's outrageous comments go unanswered (Learning, January 2000).

He strikes me as just one more non-practitioner who presumes to understand--and to prescribe the solution for--the lack of respect teachers get. His answer: more subject matter training.

I would suggest that teachers garner so little respect because the people we work with--children--get so little respect in our society.

How can we recruit more good people into teaching? His solution is yet another version of the answer we hear over and over: Money! What gifted teacher does any us know who is in this for the money?

I would like to postpone hearing from Dr. Botstein until he has spent a month or so in a K-12 classroom, such as with my alternative-ed high schoolers. If he managed to continue for a whole year, I'd actually be interested in what he had to say.

Mark Kennedy
Ontario, California

Teachers of the Millennium
When I became a teacher in 1966, I used to joke with my parents that I planned to be named "Teacher of the Year" by 1970, "Teacher of the Decade" by 1980, and "Teacher of the Century" by the year 2000.

Well, I've never even been declared "Teacher of the Month," but I think it's time (even if it's really a year early) to begin the process of selecting the "Teacher of the Millennium." Here are some nominees:

Annie Sullivan
Horace Mann
John Dewey
Maria Montessori
Mahatma Ghandi
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Mary McLeod Bethune
B. F. Skinner
Jaime Escalante
John Holt
Richard Siegelman
East Norwich, New York

Paraprofessionals
To the teacher who responded to complaints of a teacher's aide who wanted more money and prestige (November 1999), I am a tutor at a middle school. As such I am expected to have extensive knowledge on a variety of subjects on tap for whichever grade student might seek my assistance.

I also have a B.A. in history and, until my final semester, was an education major. In fact, the only thing keeping me from my certification is the student teaching requirement. Yet, according to that particular teacher who "spent $40,000" obtaining a B.A., I am not worthy of just compensation for my duties. I wonder how many other "professionals" are working for substandard wages as aides or tutors, either for the love of kids, or scarcity of jobs or both.

Robert Sparks
Canova, South Dakota

Music in the Classroom
I applaud Bill Farmer for having discovered the value of music in regular class procedure (Problems and Solutions, January).

I taught social studies for 30 years in Baltimore County, Maryland. Music was a constant in my classes. Over the years I have accumulated, at my own expense, a library of over 23,000 songs from which to draw.

Hearing a wide variety of music helped open previously closed minds to other kinds of music than what was currently considered "cool."

David Clements
Freeland, Maryland

EZC Reader
You recently printed a portion of the information I sent about a reading tool, the "EZC READER," that I created to help dyslexic children read (Idea Exchange, January). Although I do appreciate the comments, I need to bring a couple of points to your attention. My address is in Michigan, not Missouri.

Also, I am under contract with "Really Good Stuff," a school supply company based in Bosford, Connecticut. Omitting that information, as well as the Web site where this tool can be ordered (www.reallygoodstuff.com), is an infringement to their patent.

Sharon Cannon
Escanaba, Michigan

Editor's note: We regret the error.

Child Labor
To "Out of Place" who took exception to the article on child labor in the November issue: If you honestly wish "the best for all peoples," as you claimed, before you request that we not "apply American standards to other countries," would you propose we teach our children double standards?

Aren't all people entitled to the same freedoms we enjoy, or are we more priviledged than others?

Does having more than our share of the world's wealth entitle us to more than our share of the world's freedom, justice, equality, and human rights?

Who will teach our children to value each other and these principles if American professional educators do not?

Certainly they won't learn it from the American business community, which is relocating more and more facilities to countries with weaker labor protection laws.

In those countries, they can take advantage of cheap labor and are not forced to "apply American standards" by law, only by conscience.

We must look beyond issues that affect us directly, or how can we teach our children to be responsible citizens of the world?

Julie Fitzpatrick
Madison, Wisconsin