Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 30, 1990 TAG: 9007310339
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A/6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
I would hope that your readers would return to past editions, like that which contained the very perceptive article by state Sen. Dudley Emick. In brief fashion, from a non-professional view, the good senator outlined some of the aspects of modern education that impair the performance of the schools.
Public education today is beset by bureaucratic empire-builders; beset by a generation of education-schooled teachers; beset by a society that tolerates the incorporation of programs addressing every conceivable problem facing the public; beset by legal constraints which guarantee ineffectualness; beset by any number of special pleaders who demand not only for special attention, but also a level of "equality" that reduces the standard of the common denominator for measurable achievement; beset by a generation of parents - some of whom have abandoned their children in principle if not in fact; and beset by a generation of young people - some of whose life views extend no further than two weeks.
Is it not time to follow Jefferson's dictum to "alter or abolish" those institutions that prove counterproductive or non-productive to society? I feel that time is still present to alter rather than to abolish. But it will take a near-revolutionary movement on the part of the aggrieved public to accomplish the intended result. And the core constituency of such a movement must be the great middle class whose children are the principal victims of the current educational disorder.
If revolution isn't your cup of tea, then consider the sanctuary and refuge provided by the Catholic schools, where a socioeconomic mix functions with academic progress under no-nonsense leadership.
BOB FIREBAUGH\ ROANOKE
by CNB