Letters
It's Best to Have the Facts About Religions

It's Best to Have the Facts About Religions
I was pleased with "Navigating Religion in the Classroom" (November cover story). In public schools, religion is the topic that all teachers are told to avoid. But avoiding the topic leaves students with numerous questions that, if never addressed, will form into biased opinions about religions. The students will only have bits and pieces they have heard from random sources, which may be unreliable.

It is best to have all the facts. And for me as a teacher, it is helpful to know the basics of as many of the religions in my community as possible. This will prepare me better for the variety of faith-based requirements that some of my students will be taking part in.

Fear of the unknown can cause people to stay in a group that is the most similar to themselves. They will not want to get to know how others lead their lives. Educating youth about religion will help the community come together.

As with any controversial topic, it will be difficult to get support. Teachers have to know all the do's and don't's before entering the classroom. This will help all the students learn more and not cause conflicts among peers.

Thank you!

Stephanie Chlan
St. Cloud, Minnesota

Unfair Labels
The title "Truth in Labeling" (January cover story) implies that teachers are asking that students be tested for special educa-tion because they are African-American and that the solution lies in even more heroic efforts by the already beleaguered classroom teacher.

No one is sending successfully functioning children of any race to special education. Obviously, these referred students are not succeeding in class and in some cases may have learning disabilities or emotional problems. Why not find out? Wouldn't testing be the first step, to see if there actually is a problem? And if there is, wouldn't more personal attention in a smaller group help?

I am a K-12 ESL teacher in a suburban district and have referred minority (not necessarily Black) students because they showed symptoms of learning disabilities: inability to focus, great difficulty retaining new material, letter reversals. Spanish-speaking students were evaluated in Spanish and the same difficulties showed up in their first language. Other ESL students without these difficulties were catching up with their classmates in a reasonable time.

In all cases, I found the children could learn, since I often worked one-on-one with them, but at a painfully slower rate than their classmates. They needed more than the regular classroom teacher could give. At the very least, elementary teachers should have much smaller classes and an aide in every class from grades one to three.

Telling an overburdened classroom teacher that she needs more training or must come up with even more ways to reach her 25+ students is not the solution.

Kathleen Morgan
Downingtown, Pennsylvania

The school where I just completed my student teaching housed a student population with 75 percent in poverty. There was mainstreaming in each of my classes. At first, it seemed overwhelming, and the endless process of learning individualized education plans (IEPs) was a constant struggle. However, I saw that every student can learn with the right type of learning atmosphere. I tried to provide a cooperative environment with groups of mixed ability.

Not only did special education students find success in this setting, they were some of my best students. It is surprising to see what a powerful role positive expectations can play in a student's life.

The article really brought home the importance of a continuous professional development program to en-able educators, at all levels of their career, to learn new methodologies.

Also, I was invigorated by the comments of educators who take the time to not stereotype children as special education based on their outbursts. The objective is to provide a safe nurturing environment in which all students can achieve success.

Ronald Yorko
Chester, West Virginia

Social Workers
I was thrilled to see the January Health and Fitness article recognizing the important contribution that school social workers make to our students and their education. Jan Furman's "changing family" group represents the types of services which are increasingly needed for our students and their families to ensure that education can take place in a world that is often chaotic, confusing, and changing.

Students without adequate psycho-social supports will not be able to learn regardless of how talented our teachers are.

Brenda Bachman
Newport, Rhode Island

Can Anyone Teach?
I enjoyed "Credentials Count" (Inside Scoop, January). I earned my teaching degree in a traditional education preparation program. It bothers me greatly to hear people say, "Anyone can teach" or "Get your degree in anything because you can always be a teacher." Teaching encompasses more than showing up with a smile, having some subject knowledge, and monitoring students. I am very proud to say that I received my degree in education, and I am proud of being a teacher. I do not feel you must have traditional teacher training to be a good teacher; however, I believe in many cases it is beneficial. I work with many teachers who did not have traditional teaching preparation and because of their dedication and natural ability they are wonderful teachers. On the other hand, I have seen and heard of many who struggle because they lack preparation.

Sherry Watts
Tavares, Florida

I strongly believe that teachers are more effective when they live in the community (Debate, January). For 20 years, I taught at Southwest High School in Minneapolis and lived within walking distance. For a time, I had our two daughters in class.

That was an enriching, humbling, and rewarding experience. I was a part of the community, making decisions, voting on issues, being aware of what was happening to everyone, including students, in the community.

I saw the parents of my students as neighbors, friends, colleagues, community consumers. I had many short conferences about their children in the aisles of the grocery store.

Students saw me as I mowed the lawn, shoveled the snow, maintained the house. Our paths crossed many times.

Harold C. Strobel
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Parents and Homework
I was a bit disturbed by the tone of many of the responses to "What do you do when you think student work is parent work?" (Dilemma, January). These educators seemed to assume that parents were doing the work for the child. As an educator and parent of an autistic child, I often had to spend many hours working with my child to satisfy homework requirements. Many times, my child would give the responses and I would encode them for him. This was a huge energy drain for both of us, but worth the learning results. I would tell the teachers this, but my explanation was not always accepted, particularly by inflexible individuals.

But the real question is, are the assignments necessary, or busywork mandated by school policy?

As an educator, I often found homework that looked as if a parent had helped. I welcomed parents choosing to become involved in their child's education.

I sometimes would share the dilemma that I faced with my son, who would become too tired to write, but could give oral directives. That often helped to clarify the situation. Parents may need to negotiate with teachers to obtain a reasonable homework load for their child.

Donna Hunter
Myrtle Creek, Oregon

R-E-S-P-E-C-T
I appreciated your November President's Viewpoint. My daughter is in her fifth year of teaching children with specific learning disabilities, and the "Respect Shortage" she suffers the most is from disruptive, disrespectful students who sabotage her classroom. I taught 35 years; I don't think she'll come close.

Rosemary Buchanan
Belle Glade, Florida

Amending Special Ed
Least restrictive environment (LRE) has to be redefined ("If I Wrote the Special Education Law," November). For some disabilities, the LRE is not to be included or mainstreamed with regular education students. Case in point: Students who are deaf and whose primary language is American Sign Language are more restricted by being in a learning environment in which the only person with whom they can communicate is the adult interpreter assigned for academic instruction. The LRE for students who are deaf and use sign language is to be in a class in which full communication and instruction is in American Sign Language.

Ann Hughes
Richmond, Virginia

When are the people who have never been in a classroom going to let those of us who are there daily make choices as to the best instructions for a child? The least restrictive environment (LRE) for the violent, mentally retarded child who attacks others is not always a classroom in a public school. We are failing, not only that child, but also the other 10 or 12 who are sitting while we try to get a student under control.

Secondly, why are students who are years behind in academics made to test at the grade level they are in at the time and not at their academic level? It makes no sense to write an IEP that calls for teaching a child at the second-grade level and then test at the eighth-grade level.

Julia Flowers
Independence, Kansas

Get Our Pensions Back
A terrible problem now exists for me and for other retired teachers, and current teachers will face the same problem unless we all take action. It is the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision (GPO/WEP), which takes away Social Security retirement earned by teachers and spousal and survivor's benefits earned by spouses of teachers, even though we have paid into the system.

I have lost half of my retirement funds earned from working outside the school district, and all of the spousal benefits to which I was entitled through my husband's lifetime of paying into the system.

Tragically, when either my husband or I die, the other will be left with just one income because the GPO will offset Social Security survivor's benefits. To be realistically morbid, I will receive $21 a month from Social Security upon my husband's death, and, because my husband will continue to draw my teacher retirement upon my death, his Social Security will be offset, receiving about the same small amount as I would.

Congressmen are secure in their retirement, but if they were hurt in retirement as we are, I bet they would abolish GPO/WEP in one day.

I am asking that all teachers (retired and current) write their U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives demanding that they support the Social Security Fairness Act, which would eliminate the GPO/WEP.

One Congressman reported that beginning in 1966, the Social Security trust money has been used to finance parts of the American budget and that over $600 billion in just the last decade was taken from the trust fund by the government. How terribly ironic that those of us who paid into the system are being denied the little money that would help us, yet our own government takes money out by the billions!

Martha Callaway
Wichita Falls, Texas

I have written to my Congressman and my Senator more times than I care to admit about repealing the Government Pension Offset but have never received a definite answer. It's as if they have more important things to do. I know there are many things that are very important, in fact, life-threatening. However, I feel this is important as it is really money that should have been ours to begin with.

If my husband were alive I would not know how to explain to him why we do not get this money he earned.

Please do not give up. We may never get what is ours but we should not stop trying.

Suzanne Nesci
Las Vegas, Nevada

[Editor's note: As reported in NEA Today throughout the last year, GPO/WEP hurts many thousands of NEA members. Repealing these unfair offsets is a top NEA priority. To learn more, and to join the repeal effort, visit www.nea.org/lac/socsec. You will find fact sheets, talking points, and sample letters to Congress. There's also a link to help you e-mail your Senator and Representative. The most effective lobbyists are a politician's own constituents.]

I want to pass on something an adult education student told me recently. He was a special education student in our district before inclusion was in effect.

When he was in the early grades, he spent nearly all of his time in the resource room because of his learning disabilities.

He was not in regular education classrooms until his eighth grade year and then only to monitor a social studies class. Though he graduated, he feels his diploma is worthless because he still struggles with basic reading and language skills.

This is a man with an IQ of 120 who is dyslexic, including seeing halos around words in small print. He also has difficulty forming written work that is grammatically correct or that uses a wide range of vocabulary.

He believes that if he had been given more challenging work and assistance in reading and writing sooner, he could have achieved more. He feels inadequate in the adult world.

Things have changed quite a bit since he was in school. I pass this on to let you know that inclusion of special education students in regular education classes is profitable in the long run.

Deanna Bradbury
Pittsfield, Maine

I am a middle school special education teacher in rural West Virginia. I work with several exceptionalities at the same time. I am also responsible for more students that are mainstreamed into the regular curriculum. I am swamped with paper work. Right now I have ten students- LD and MI student mix- in each class. My classes of 10 students also include students with behavior disorders and one with high functioning autism. Many of the students with behavior disorder are not labeled behavior disorder just so our school system can have more options on suspensions and expulsions. Today five students came from another class for extra help. I just "fight fires" instead of teaching. This system does not work to prepare these students for regular classes or learning basis skills. It looks good on paper because we meet somebody's regulations. Federal authorities need to talk with more teachers in the field before sending out regulations that will result in more paperwork than teaching.

Linda Shock
City? West Virginia

I agree that sp. ed. students deserve the best education available. I do not think they get it in the regular classroom. I am a librarian. I when I teach library skills the sp. ed. students are lost. I only have the class for 30 min. so I can't give him/her the extra help needed. He can of course check out books. If I had wanted to teach sp. ed., I would have majored in it. It is not fair to the other students. What about their rights? NEA has an obligation to all students., so please support those students that are not sp. ed. They are the majority. The men in power do not know the first thing about teaching students, so it is up to you to help out teachers. Thanks.

Cam Patterson
Looks like Nashville, Tennessee, but check