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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 3, 1992                   TAG: 9201030388
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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IN SCHOOLING, OLD DOGS KNOW WHAT WORKS

TO JODI SISLER'S response Dec. 6 to my commentary (Nov. 6, "Why push phonics to the sidelines?"), first, I want to say thanks for reading and commenting and calling me an "old dog."

All my life I have wanted to be an old dog, because old dogs know what works and what doesn't. They've been around long enough to experience goods and bads - in education as well as other areas of life.

I hope Jodi read the letter on the same page with hers, by Sigmund E. Davidson (Dec. 16, "All of society must confront literacy problem"), concerning "the 29,000 adults in the Roanoke Valley [who] are functionally illiterate (having reading skills below that of a student at the fourth-grade level)!" I have taught these people in Richmond, and believe me, this old dog knows it's true.

I hope, too, Jodi will reassess her belief that "memorization is meaningless." The attitude of those who want to make all learning fun and games leads us to a society where no one knows multiplication tables, simple addition and subtraction combinations, or the alphabet and letter sounds.

Memorization can be fun and even today, I can recall poems some other old dogs made me memorize while I was still a young pup. (By the way, I didn't enjoy doing it at the time.) I can also decode any new word I find in my reading, and I can figure up which can of peas is cheaper without using a calculator.

We have a new basset hound pup, and I don't believe we'll ever teach that new dog old tricks. But if Jodi stays in education long enough, I have hopes for her. LUANN BELL ROANOKE

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