THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 14, 1995 TAG: 9502140494
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 34 lines
Regarding ``Charter schools: a back-to-basics approach'' (Another View, Jan. 31): Charter schools seem to be an answer to the symptoms but not the fundamental problems of public schools. I propose we ask very basic questions about our existing public schools: What are they for - specifically? What type of education should schools provide students? Obviously, we need reading, writing and arithmetic, but what else? Do we prepare students for college, for the workplace, for something else or all of these?
I think we need to zero-base our education requirements, then see if we are meeting the necessities or missing them and instead adding a lot of optional, unneeded courses.
By zero-base I mean list all the objectives or achievements we want every student to master by each grade level until graduation from high school. Without this yardstick, how can we measure the effectiveness of our school system? How can we evaluate the need for a new course? How can we best use our scarce resources?
Perhaps if we go back to the basics, we will find ways to fine-tune our existing school programs and realize that we have no need for charter schools.
RAYMOND CICIRELLI
Portsmouth, Jan. 31, 1995 by CNB