DATE: Saturday, August 2, 1997              TAG: 9708010040

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B8   EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Opinion 

SOURCE: BY HERB DE GROFT 

                                            LENGTH:   87 lines

ACT NOW FOR OUR CHILDREN

I certainly hope Virginia parents wake up to what is in the process of happening within the State Board of Education and under the tutelage of Governor Allen's administration. Under the guise of Standards of Learning and Standards of Accreditation, the effort is well under way to:

1. Eliminate either elementary guidance counselors or reading teachers.

2. Change Family Life Education to an elective/opt-in program.

3. De-emphasize those subjects referred to as ``the arts.''

If anything, we need to be expanding our efforts in these areas!

As a school board member, concerned citizen, Marine veteran and parent of two sons who graduated from public school and went on to successful endeavors in higher education, I am fearful that if the citizen-parents of our commonwealth do not take an interest and voice their objections to these backward moves, we will be severely shortchanging our youngsters, tomorrow's responsible citizens.

The idea of choosing elementary counselors or reading teachers is the height of idiocy. A significant number of today's elementary children come to the school system ``at risk.'' The guidance counselor is, along with their teacher, possibly their first contact with an adult who offers them a good ``mother/father'' figure.

It's shocking that little children come to school unfed, unwashed, semiclothed, battered, fearful of returning home, having to deal with drug abuse in their home, etc. And the guidance counselor is literally compelled to help the child sort this all out to give the child even the slightest chance of succeeding in this new endeavor called school.

Then on the reading side of the equation: The number of children who start school without the least semblance of skills in this new endeavor called reading is alarming. Consider the role reading plays in the child's success or lack thereof in the attempt to master school - the whole school endeavor is predicated on being able to read.

Computers in schools may be a great advance, but what good are they if basic reading skills are not mastered? Reading teachers are an absolute necessity, along with guidance counselors, in elementary school in order for elementary students to have a chance at succeeding at these new challenges of school and reading.

Family Life Education needs to be continued and the qualifications of those doing the teaching enhanced in this all-important area.

Virginia has been a leader, but now we want to reverse progress. Idiocy, again! We are barely staving off substance abuse among our youth through DARE, etc; we are interdicting family problems, to the unit that is integral to the moral fabric of America; we are building self-esteem/worth; we are positively affecting the pregnancy rate of school-age girls.

However, Virginia is still not in a very enviable position. As shown in a recent issue of USA Today, our state ranks 25th with 101 births per 1,000 school-age girls. We can, through sound teaching with support from the family and church, continue to see this figure fall, thereby saving young mothers and their babies from terrible miseries, and society from the added needs to support them.

Our children need Family Life Education because the family continues to not meet its responsibility. Family Life Education is one key to a better chance at life and a better America.

Lastly, to de-emphasize the arts is to strait-jacket our children in basic education. Art and music are very necessary parts of our lives, as individuals and as a society. These subjects make for the whole person, our whole culture. Our youngsters' sensory perceptions need positive stimulation, and this positive ``food for the soul'' is provided by art/music.

Parents should write to the following and express their views:

Gov. George Allen

Governor's Office, Third Floor

The State Capitol

P.O. Box 1475

Richmond, Va. 23212

State Board of Education

Members of the Board

Department of Education

P.O. Box 2120

Richmond, Va. 23218

Parents should also contact their representatives and senators (now at home, not in Richmond). Write no later than Aug. 4, as the deadline for the letters to the State Board of Education is Aug. 7.

Our children's future is in our hands. MEMO: Herb De Groft is a member of the Isle of Wight School Board.Herb

De Groft is a member of the Isle of Wight School Board. KEYWORDS: ANOTHER VIEW

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu