THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 27, 1996 TAG: 9601240005
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 41 lines
For the second time in less than a month, Thomas Sowell has written a column filled with inaccurate, misleading statements regarding teachers and education faculties. In his Jan. 19 column, he talks about the numerous studies, mounds of data and the ``facts'' on which his allegations are based.
In weighing Mr. Sowell's words, I'd like your readers to be more informed about our Old Dominion University teacher-preparation programs. Students in our programs major not in education but in academic subjects such as mathematics, English and history in the Colleges of Arts & Letters and Sciences. Our teacher-preparation candidates must achieve and maintain a 2.50 grade-point average, rather than the 2.00 GPA required of other students in those colleges.
As to excellence - two of the past four honor graduates in the College of Arts and Letters have been students in the Interdisciplinary Studies degree program who went on to complete a master's degree in elementary/middle-school education. I think it particularly significant that the faculty members they named as having the greatest influence on their success as undergraduate students were from the Darden College of Education.
Mr. Sowell seems to have an axe to grind, but the residents of Virginia need to compare his rhetoric with the accomplishments and dedication of the students and faculty in the 37 higher-education institutions in Virginia with teacher-preparation programs. I like to remind our students of a quote from Lee Iacocca: ``In an ideal world, the best of us would be teachers; the rest would have to settle for something less.'' We are working toward that world.
ROGER F. STRAND, director
Teacher Education Services
Darden College of Education
Old Dominion University
Norfolk, Jan. 19, 1996 by CNB