Bear Creek High School students protest proposed history curriculum changes at the corner of South Kipling Parkway and West Dartmouth Avenue in Lakewood on Thursday. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)
Re: “Jeffco school board curriculum committee idea latest divisive issue,” Sept. 25 news story.
Am I the only one who is outraged by Jefferson County school board president Ken Wittap outrageous statement that “It is never OK to use kids as pawns, and itap exactly what I think is happening here”? He is suggesting that students across Jeffco needed some kind of organized prodding by their teachers, who, according to a recent Denver Post editorial, are mostly interested in salary issues, to go out and protest a ham-handed attempt to remove an imagined liberal bias in AP history classes.
On the other hand, we can thank Witt for unwittingly (ahem) illustrating the conservative world view. A liberal AP history teacher would give any student a rotten grade for coming to a conclusion based on nothing more than delusional conjecture. A well-trained AP student would realize that he or she should use facts and logic to make a point.
James D. Starkey, Littleton
This letter was published in the Sept. 26 edition.In 2004, your paper reported on my speech at a Jefferson County school board meeting, voicing urgent student concerns. I was a high school sophomore. The board listened, asked questions, and arranged a prompt follow-up meeting with the superintendent. Real changes were made. Students and teachers were better off.
I don’t remember the political affiliations of the school board members I spoke with, but I do remember that they genuinely heard students’ voices, and they acted on what they heard. At no time were we told that we should have been in class, or that we just didn’t understand what the adults were trying to do.
To the current Jeffco students walking out to protest curriculum changes: You’re standing exactly where you belong. Ten years out, I’ve used the confidence I gained from standing up for my convictions far more often than I’ve used anything I learned in a single day of classroom tutelage. And, you understand perfectly well what the adults are trying to do. They just really, really wish you didn’t.
Jelena Woehr, Los Angeles
This letter was published in the Sept. 26 edition.
For information on how to send a letter to the editor, click here. Follow eLetters on Twitter to receive updates about new letters to the editor when they’re posted.
