ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, January 27, 1997 TAG: 9701270022
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DENISE ELIZABETH ROONEY
AS AN employee of the Roanoke County school system and a parent of four children who attend Oak Grove Elementary and Hidden Valley Junior High schools, I commend Tom Leggette, a member of the Roanoke County School Board, for the stand he is taking on the new academic standards and testing planned by the state Board of Education (Jan. 17 news article, ``Educator backs Va. on testing'').
Leggette feels that by protesting the testing schedule of three-year increments, the county School Board is saying that students shouldn't be expected to retain a common body of knowledge.
Taking this idea one step further, I feel the School Board is saying that the teachers and administrative staff have not prepared our students well enough for them to be successful.
If School Board member Jerry Canada does not allow his own daughter to participate in this testing, he is - in effect - telling the teachers at Northside High School that he doesn't believe they have prepared his child well enough for her to succeed, and that he has no faith in their teaching abilities and methods.
I am dismayed by the lack of confidence Canada has in the teachers, children and the administrative team he represents.
School Board member Marion Roark was quoted as saying that we have to be realistic, and she doesn't think we should test students three years after they have taken a course. Can this be possible? My fourth-grader shouldn't be expected to know, retain and use what she learned in the first grade?
Roark's statement is a clear example of the very prevalent trend today - the dumbing down of our schools.
Dumbing down our schools reduces education to a level where feelings and reflections on a particular subject are more important than the ability to read fluently, practice correct spelling and proper grammar, and retain actual facts and mathematical concepts.
I certainly hope that each year of education serves as a foundation on which to build the next.
If we, as educators, do not expect the best from our students, and do not inspire them to perform at their highest levels, we have no right to the privilege of being called ``teachers.''
I thank Leggette for his vote of confidence. Perhaps in the near future, we will be given the opportunity to prove him right.
Denise Elizabeth Rooney of Roanoke is an instructional assistant at Hidden Valley Junior High School.
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