Letters

Signing Bonuses
As an educator in Arizona, I found a few comments by Virginia Hoover to be disheartening (Debate, April). She said that teachers who get a signing bonus can use that money to buy supplies for their class.

Before I got married and had children of my own, I would get to school extra early and leave very late. I spent a lot of money on supplies. Today, I spend $.00 on my classroom. I came to realize that the state legislators do not care that I work extra hard. They do not care about properly funding my class, or my salary.

Instead of trying to pay for things myself, I tell children that although field trips and colored pencils and crayons would be nice tools to use, the state does not supply me with enough. I then tell my students to tell their parents to talk to their legislators. I use my classes' lack of funding as a teaching moment.

People, think about it. As long as you spend your hard-earned money in your classrooms, the state will not put in the needed dollars.

If we all spend $.00 on our students, and tell them why there is no money, we will get infuriated parents demanding that the state properly fund education.

Mace Bravin
Tucson, Arizona

Bookless Library
I was a bit surprised by the photo on page 13 of the April NEA Today. At first glance, this library looks like a terrific facility, but they forgot to spend money on books!

It is nice that the children can see the front covers, but what a waste of bookshelves! Many of the lower shelves are empty, but the out-of-reach top shelves have books.

I have thousands of books in my second grade classroom. If you want children to read, you have to provide the material!

Sue Marsh
Belvidere, New Jersey

Vouchers Are Good
Regarding Steve Hosch's letter about vouchers (April), I think vouchers are right for two very important reasons.

First, the money goes to mom and dad. They can, and should, decide where the tuition goes. It would probably go to an institution that competes with the public schools for educational excellence. Who is the NEA to tell mom and dad where to send their children?

Second, while private schools don't have to be accountable to the public, they do have to be accountable to the parents. I know many of them do a good job teaching students their place in a democratic society by instilling love of country through their curricula, something I see lacking in our public schools.

As for the church-state issue, so what if the money goes to a religious school? Vouchers don't support a church, they support an education.

Tim McGee
Mansfield, Massachusetts

On Call 24/7
I hope Millie Brooks is still alive and well, and not the victim of her own naivete (Letters, April).

To say that a teacher should be "on call" 24/7 only proves the truth of another statement she made, that she is "a future educator." Obviously, she's never had to wonder whether irate parents were going to interrupt supper/bath/quiet time/private time because they felt their little darlings deserved an A+ and were "given" (never "earned") a D-.

You will learn to appreciate time away from the subject of school. You will learn to guard your privacy.

Should we really be "on-call"? Are there that many things that really need to be dealt with over the phone between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.? Only if it is a real crisis--and, then, I wonder if the authorities might not be the better place to turn first.

I hope you're trained in crisis handling. If not, you are opening yourself up to liability/malpractice possibilities.

I find it ironic that this letter appeared in an issue that dealt mostly with the inadequacies of teacher pay.

Dale Robbins
Piqua, Ohio

Pen Punishment
You recently asked your readers to respond to the question, "How do you handle disruptive students?" (April). I was shocked that you published a response that had writing as the consequence for disruptive behavior.

The writing of a sentence 50 or more times is not teaching the student proper classroom behavior. The disruptive student will have less time to do regular schoolwork, or will learn that putting words on paper is what happens when you are "bad."

When students learn that writing is a punishment for bad behavior, they also learn to avoid the punishment. A student's writing should be a positive experience. I hate to think of the children who will lose their passion for the written word if even a single teacher adopts this method of squelching our developing writers.

Michael Williams
Portland, Oregon

Rookie Assignments
I was alarmed to read the position taken by Suzanne Emery on giving new teachers the toughest assignments (Debate, March). She referred to experienced teachers using their "years of valuable resources in other locations."

Let's read between the lines. According to Emery, the people who know best how to deal with difficult situations (and who, I might remind all of us, are entitled to and receive greater compensation) should have the "cush" jobs where those skills are not needed as much.

I'm sure that anyone who survives her "boot camp" introduction to teaching will make a fine teacher. But how many fine young teachers will her plan run off? Unfortunately, in most buildings, her attitude of letting veteran teachers go into early retirement while throwing new teachers to the sharks is prevalent.

Three cheers to Wendy Patterson. We veteran teachers need to follow her lead.

Harry McDonald
Olathe, Kansas

Vouchers and Religion
With regard to Caroline Zimmermann's letter (March) favoring vouchers, one wonders if she knows anything about history, today's needs, or the Constitution.

Almost all voucher money would go to schools set up to teach religion. I know of nothing more dangerous than forcing one's beliefs on others, a step that leads to alienation, fear, hate, and, eventually, to violence. This was the reason behind our early government's decision to separate church and state.

To force people to pay for education in a religion they do not share is tyranny. Public schools are open to all and serve all. When they need help, the government must help them.

Frances Baris
Danbury, Connecticut

Aspersions
Did you think Frank Verducci's article, "Trading the Boardroom for the Classroom" (March), was going to lure qualified individuals to the teaching profession?

It is shameful that he cannot focus on those who bring teaching to lofty levels and inspire not just students, but also colleagues.

Verducci believes the lessons he learned in business are also valid in teaching. Did those lessons include berating your peers and casting aspersions on your current profession? Will this lead you to become a respected member of the teaching community?

"The responsibility we have as teachers is simply awesome," he writes. This is true. But Verducci needs to emulate the many positive role models in his district, not act in a manner that he says he abhors.

In submitting this self-promoting article, he shows he is no better than the teachers for whom he has contempt.

Frances Holck
Holmdel, New Jersey

Gore, for and Against
Robert Oldfield (Letters, March) criticized Al Gore as a "tax and spend" liberal. The facts show our country was misled deeply into debt, not by liberals, but by conservatives such as Ronald Reagan and George Bush. It was Bill Clinton and Al Gore who brought us not only a balanced budget but large surpluses.

Every year, our former Democratic Congress proposed less spending than conservative Presidents like Reagan, whose bloated budgets more than doubled the spending on weapons and corporate welfare.

The last Democratic Congress in 1993 passed tax and deficit reduction measures that have led to improved balances every year Clinton and Gore have been in office.

Conservatives constantly complain about programs that provide food and shelter to children in poverty. Yet our current Republican Congress has increased pork barrel spending to the point that corporate welfare is now five times more expensive than the old welfare for the poor. Frankly, I'm tired of these "tax and spend" conservative Republicans blowing my hard-earned tax dollars like drunken cowboys in Las Vegas on a Saturday night.

Bert Miller
Mt. Pleasant, Iowa

I am truly disgusted and angry with the NEA. As a lifetime member, I have always felt that you should stay out of politics. This year, you overstepped the bounds when you rushed to support Al Gore so early.

I am more and more convinced that you care more about political clout than about our precious children. If you did your homework, you would discover that countless millions of parents and taxpayers do not feel that "tax and spend" has solved the problems in our schools.

More of the same with Gore!

Doris Shea
Naples, Florida

Boosting Morale
How do you raise morale among teachers and support staff? My morale was lowered significantly by the solutions you reported (March).

A piece of fruit! A smile! Birthday parties! Butcher paper in the lunchroom! Yes, these are nice. But no one mentioned modern buildings with adequate facilities, appropriate class size and sound educational programs, professional or suitable salaries, or time and resources for professional growth.

Joel Berg
Lake Grove, New York

Name Brands
I was sorry to see your "thumbs down" for the notion of displaying real-life name brands in school textbooks (March). In case you have not heard, this is a capitalist country (not a dirty word).

As a teacher of economics for 12 years, I know that one cannot talk about the American marketplace without including the fact of competition (not a dirty word, either).

There is nothing wrong with presenting the American economy as it really looks. We do not live in a Soviet-style economy where everyone is poor and every product is generic. We can be thankful for that. By the way, I am a Democrat.

Aaron De Groot
San Diego, California

Mystery Meat
As a Registered Dietitian and NEA member, I was very disappointed by the reference to "mystery meat" in the February issue.

The staff preparing the school lunch programs for today's students have a tough job meeting the strict nutritional guidelines and students' changing tastes. Comments that disparage another school employee's work are never appropriate in an advocacy newsletter.

Go to your local school sometime soon and enjoy a lunch. You will be pleasantly surprised! Now please, practice what you preach and support all school staff!

Jan Bodnar
Poynette, Wisconsin

(Business) School?
In "Making the Right Math Connections"(February), teacher James Koutsos is quoted as saying he is "building" his seventh graders into "problem solvers because that's what the business community is looking for." His assumptions are disturbing and wrong.

First, the assumption that human beings--let alone children--can and should be "built," as if they were pieces of lumber, objectifies them. It also subverts the essential purpose of education, enabling a child to develop his potentialities for his own benefit.

The second assumption, that the business community's request for certain job skills ought to take pre-cedence in school over the needs, interests, wants, and goals of students is patently false, even if widespread.

Public schools and teachers exist to serve our young people. Their welfare is our primary concern, not the economy, the chambers of commerce, or corporate America. The business community is out-of-bounds when it tries to make the schools a de facto branch of its human resources department.

Bonnie Fisher, Ph.D.
Bloomington, Indiana

Reviewing the Review
I read the book entitled Educating Esme because of the positive review in your magazine. I thought, being a second year teacher, that I could relate to the lessons learned from this first year teacher. I just have to say that I was horribly disappointed. I feel that the author was too stubborn, obnoxious, and arrogant for a first year teacher to be successful. First year teachers don't know everything and need to be open to others for new and exciting methods of teaching. This book was nothing but a negative account. I know that if I met someone with an attitude like that, especially a first year teacher, he or she would be eating alone in the teacher's lounge.

Daniel Rubin
Salt Lake City, Utah