THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 20, 1996 TAG: 9609190148
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: LETTER
LENGTH: 34 lines
I am a second-year math teacher at Salem High School. Last month, as my peers and I enthusiastically returned to the classrooms in preparation for the coming school year, I became quite disappointed and upset at the way the mandatory convocation turned out.
During this event, the main speaker diverted the focus of his speech away from the challenges of teaching to a political pulpit. In doing so, he directly criticized one of the presidential candidates and another prominent individual whose political views he apparently does not share.
I found these remarks both inappropriate and counter productive. As teachers, we are public servants entrusted by the community with the awesome responsibility of educating the children. Our responsibility is to present knowledge to the students in a manner that both motivates and challenges them to learn. This is not a political activity. Although education is highly politicized at the national level, it is not and should never be at the school and classroom level.
In making these remarks, the speaker created division among the audience of teachers and completely obscured the main focus of his presentation, which was on bettering education. Furthermore, as a member of the community, I was outraged that in-service time paid for by the community was turned into a divisive political forum.
If this function had been optional, many teachers could have better utilized their time preparing to meet the challenges of teaching the children in the coming year.
Jennifer J. Delany
Aug. 30 by CNB