Your recent report on how exploding school costs have done little to improve
student performance invites consideration of two unexplored and inexpensive
alternatives to present reforms: a revamped system for recruiting teachers,
and a new approach to the high school experience.
One reason why recent reforms have not succeeded is because teachers have been
trained on the basis of the failed reforms. New teachers must therefore be recruited
who are untainted by such reforms. One encouraging approach is the attempt being
made by states such as Virginia where many districts have turned to an untouched
supply of potential teachers: those college graduates who have majored in the
liberal arts and are having difficuilty finding employment in the present hi-tech
environment. Several districts have been carefully recruiting such individuals
with a strong record in subject areas such as English, Foreign Languages, Social
Sciences, Fine Arts, etc, and allowing them to teach in lower grades under supervision.
It is understood that these individuals must undergo in-service training and
that they will go on to graduate work in education with tuition paid by the
district. The assumption is that what such teachers may lack in a knowledge
of classroom procedure they more than make up by a solid knowledge of an academic
subject.
A second inexpensive alternative is the so-caalled "early college initiative"
which cuts back on the high school experience by eliminating the senior year.
This enables a student to enter college one year earlier and eliminates the
many frills that dominate the present easy-going high school years. The greater
intensity of preparation will help avoid the waste of time generally associated
with the senior year. The Bill Gates Foundation is providing funds not only
for this initiative, but for cutting back on the physical size of the high school
which in some cases rivals the size of a college campus. Both programs are far
more practical and less expensive than some of the reforms that have been sweeping
K-12 since 1983.
Aldo S. Bernardo
25 Third St
Johnson City, NY 13790
797-1346