THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 6, 1996 TAG: 9610050650
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: DECISION '96
LENGTH: 94 lines
Barbara Edwards
Suffolk
Teacher, Lakeland High School
``It's the responsibility of government to ensure every child is given the opportunity to have a good education. I don't think the government should have to take on the role of parent, but it needs to provide quality public schools and the finances to run them and to attract the best people to the field. Government should place worth on children.''
C. Faye Tillery
Suffolk
Parks and Recreation Department employee
``Government should have funds and grants available for education, for during and after school, at all levels. That's what we need most. They should focus on it. It's important to the kids' futures and the future of the United States.''
Carrie L. Gordon
Chick's Beach
Biology instructor at Tidewater Community College
``We have a wide variety of students here. Some are older and already have degrees and are returning for more education. Some are young, some of them are very bright and others cannot read or write very well. Some can't afford a four-year school and some could not get into a four-year school and are playing catch up. But based on what I see, I think the schools, from kindergarten through high school, need to emphasize the basics more. My classes are getting so big that I don't have time to give too many essay tests, but I know that some of them can't write. It's kind of frightening. Students just need a good grounding in the basics, after that, they can go on to other levels.''
Bill Ryan
Norfolk
Community activist
``We have taken too many of our problems, whether they're local, regional, or statewide, and we've pushed the solution up to a bureaucracy in Washington. A teacher does not need somebody in the Department of Education to tell her how to run a school. That should be handled by the state and I would even go so far as to say that it should be only handled by Norfolk. The state shouldn't have anything to do with it - except for the possibility of evening out the funding so that a rural county in Lee County, Va., has the capability of having a school. But as far as the government in Washington, D.C., telling the Norfolk School Board what to teach, how to teach - my personal feeling is, that's the problem.''
Edna Loftus
Dublin
Retired teacher
``Education has to be designed to demand that you learn and become accountable. You have the brains, you have all that it takes, but it takes some initiative to get out there.''
George Byrd
Norfolk
Community activist
``I wouldn't be a teacher today. You couldn't pay me enough to be a school teacher. I did a little volunteer work out at the Norview Middle School. Some of the experiences I had with a couple of students . . . I couldn't put up with that. They would fire me the first day. So, I just feel really sorry for teachers today. They're expected to do everything. I think all a teacher should have to do is to teach the child when he comes to school, reading, writing, arithmetic - whatever are the proper things to educate them. The things that relate to behavior and morals should be required of the parent to take care of. If they don't, they should be held accountable in some manner.''
Dan Ream
Richmond
Librarian
``In an essay I read recently, a woman was writing about how no one shows up at PTA meetings anymore. Nobody is there to volunteer for the schools. It rings true to me that people are ready to complain about education quality at the drop of a hat but where are they in terms of helping out? To me, that is the difference between a customer and a citizen. So many see themselves as customers of all these government services.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos
C. Faye Tillery
Carrie L. Gordon
Barbara Edwards
KEYWORDS: EDUCATION ELECTION VIRGINIA U.S. SENATE
RACE VIRGINIA CONGRESSIONAL RACE VIRGINIA
CANDIDATES ISSUES by CNB