re levy comments

[John Davis <jcdavis@uidaho.edu>]

OK, gotta nibble back!

Facts. . . gotta have some relevant info to claim as 'factual'. . . what 
scores are you citing?  And, more importantly, what relevance do these test 
scores have with instruction taking place in the schools?  Ahhh, if only we 
could focus on those efforts. . . So much emphasis is placed upon comparing 
"us" to "them"; unfortunately, it is a lot of apple-to-orange comparison 
along many lines.

Parential involvement?  Couldn't agree more. . . As I see it (no facts 
here!) it appears as though our K-12 schools have been increasingly 
shouldering responsibility for aspects of our children's education that do 
not belong there.  Why?  Not sure. . . economical. . . cultural. . . too 
complicated to answer here.  I surely would not mind seeing the disruptive 
student sent home so as not to interfere with my children's class. . . 
seems like a parental issue, not a teacher issue. . . and, truth be told, 
the disruptive individual does impact the class and the rights of the 
students to learn and the teacher to teach.  Perhaps all of this is tending 
to "yield" a student culture that is simply not as ready for college as 
they should be; not from an academic standpoint, but from a maturation 
standpoint.

I am also not in disagreement with your contention about the "system as a 
whole".  It is a school-culture issue. . . it is a community culture issue. 
. . and none of this can or will change rapidly in our society, our 
country.  However, dialogue like this I believe to be helpful; bring out 
the real issues, discuss, and problem solve. . . However, it can only be 
productive if we shed our personal opinions based on our own extremely 
limited experiential views, and begin to look closely at what evidence has 
and will continue to be collected, analyzed, sliced, diced, what have 
you.  And THAT is how we will continue to modify and change certain 
bureaucracies.

Through all of this it is interesting to note (perhaps I shall claim it as 
a "fact") that while we are constantly compared to other countries and 
shown to perform oh-so-lowly, why have we become, in such a historically 
short period of time, the economic, scientific, medical, and technological 
leader of the world, and, clearly, continue to be?  Hmmm. . .

jd