Re: “Face the elephant in the classroom,” Feb. 1 Perspective article.
Tom Coyne chairs the Wheat Ridge High School Accountability Committee. He is also a member of Jefferson County’s District Accountability Committee, and has worked on corporate performance improvement issues for more than 30 years.
In his article, Tom Coyne walks us through a labyrinth of statistical data, steering us toward his inevitable and predictable point: the alleged failure of public education is the fault of the teachers unions and all those “bad teachers.” Lost in his diatribe is any mention of the fact that we are the only industrialized nation that tests all students, regular and special-needs, and not just the college-bound ones. Also not mentioned, but thoroughly implied, are his Lake Wobegone assumptions — you know, that mythical Minnesota prairie town where all children are “above average.” I guess now those assumptions are being packaged under a new label: “college and career ready.”
After teaching and watching our cultural decline for the last 20 years, I would not recommend anyone go into public education as a teacher, at least not in this country, until people begin to make an accurate assessment of where accountability begins and stop blaming teachers for all of our problems.
Eric J. Schmidt,Littleton
This letter was published in the Feb. 8 edition.Tom Coyne concludes that teachers and their unions are the root causes of poor student performance in our public education system. The data he cites do not support his conclusion.
Coyne cites statistics that show families with more money have students who perform better. However, teachers have no control over what goes on at home, whether it is income, homework assistance, or diet and hygiene. Coyne goes on to cite issues such as “inconsistent instructional practices,” “lack of systemic curriculum,” and “superficial coverage of a large number of standards.” Issues such as these are determined by politicians and school boards, with little or no input from teachers.
It is baffling and disturbing that Coyne concludes that teachers unions are solely to blame for poor student performance, when it is our state and federal governments, school boards, and school administrators that set inconsistent and sometimes impossible standards for teachers and students. If Coyne’s non-sequitur conclusion — and the fact that he singles out teachers when there are so many other causes of poor performance — are any indication of how our public schools are run, then we are indeed in trouble.
Steve Laudeman,Denver
This letter was published in the Feb. 8 edition.Tom Coyne failed to mention the other elephant that never seems to be acknowledged. Itap easy and popular to blame the teachers when our education system is not living up to its potential. What many fail to notice, however, is that many students, in both wealthy and poor districts alike, come to school unprepared due to today’s parents not giving them proper support at home. This can be due to the single parent not having enough time or, even worse, the affluent parent not caring enough to monitor how their entitled kids are progressing. In the latter case, our teachers are now having to act as parents as well as educators, taking time away from their jobs.
Dave Peregoy,Clark
This letter was published in the Feb. 8 edition.
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