ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 16, 1995 TAG: 9512190001
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-11 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
HUGH Key still doesn't get it (Dec. 11 letter to the editor, ``Denying facts won't bring educational improvements'').
He completely missed the point on special-education classes. The statistics he insists on touting may look fine on paper, but he needs to get into the real world. Instead of defending his ``on paper'' position, he needs to get into the schools. Substitute teacher perhaps? It may open his eyes when he experiences special-education classes with sometimes one or two students in the same building with academic classes of 25 or more.
It's true, as in all occupations, some workers don't pull their weight. But any decent teacher cannot survive sitting at a desk all day and functioning only during the contracted hours. They earn every minute of their summer break by taking the job home, weekdays and weekends. Most days are spent in the classroom with a student body and an atmosphere very different from just a few years ago, and certainly much different from when Key was in school. If he tried to do a teacher's job, he would find himself moving about most of the day in front of a captive audience, and competing with endless distractions just to get a lesson taught. He would never survive. The business world has no equivalent.
Those who equate schools with industry - which turns out nice, neat, little uniform products of equal quality - need a dose of reality. Products don't talk back, sleep, refuse to do assigned tasks, take or sell drugs, fight, detract others or sue when they think someone has stepped on their rights - real or imagined. If you have a product of poor quality on the assembly line, you pitch it. Our ``products'' come in a huge range of complex abilities at different stages of completion. With rare exceptions, we must process all of them, no matter how disruptive they get. We don't have the luxury of ejecting those who don't meet standards as private schools can. Key needs to walk a mile in a teacher's shoes.
E. ANNE PAULL
TROUTVILLE
Never too much of a good thing
TO PARAPHRASE the opening song of ``She Loves Me'': "Good morning, good day. Isn't this a glorious play?"
Your reviewer (Dec. 2, ``Fine acting, sets can't save this too-long musical'') is right to praise the "terrific actors" and contributions of the director-choreographer, musical director and set designer - and wrong to object to the length of the show. Too many songs? Too much good will, good cheer and romance? Too much triumph of benevolence over bad luck and temporary bad judgment? Too many melodies, and too many humorous variations on lyrical-musical themes?
The source play was clever enough to tempt Ernst Lubitsch (a director known for the elegance, sophistication and stylish comic touch of his film), who adapted it as ``The Shop around the Corner'' with Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart. He admired the tenderness and dignity of a story in which apparently ordinary characters have extraordinary qualities. We can share that admiration.
We can also thank Mill Mountain Theater for presenting this fine musical - uncut. As Mae West said, ``Sometimes too much of a good thing can be absolutely wonderful.''
SHOSHANA MILGRAM KNAPP
BLACKSBURG
Story dredged up old information
I AM WRITING to express my disappointment in your Dec. 3 article regarding Dr. Antoine Hobeika (``Possible embezzlement case idles in attorney general's office'').
One assumes that a writer prepares an article with a specific noteworthy purpose in mind. I struggled greatly to ascertain what your staff writer's purpose was in writing this article. Was it noteworthy that the state attorney general's office appears to have done the minimal, if anything, with this case in spite of having had it in hand for a significant period of time? I doubt that the public was especially worried about the state's response time.
Was the article's goal to inform the public of the progress of the search for a new director for the Center for Transportation Research? Likewise, this is probably not a high priority with the public. Further, if that was the goal, why tack this information on at the end of the article instead of leading with it?
No, after reading and rereading the article, I concluded that your staff writer's primary purpose was purely to dredge up basically old information and use it to inflict further public damage upon Hobeika and his family. One would hope in the future that your staff writers and their supervising editors could seek a higher level of journalistic integrity.
WILLIAM R. KNOCKE
BLACKSBURG
LENGTH: Medium: 88 linesby CNB