Education matters: Readers tell us what they think

Roots of bullying found in home

AJC columnist Maureen Downey wisely pointed out that parents are involved in solving the bullying problem (“In studies, bullying shows pattern,” @issue, April 27). Behavior is learned, and children who are bullied at home are apt to become bullies. We learn by imitation, and when children see fathers bully their mothers, parents bullying their children, adults bullying their elderly parents and teachers bullying a particular student, they learn how to do it.

Movies and television are teachers, too. We all need to teach our children to respect others by being respectful ourselves, treating other people civilly and fairly, regardless of how we may feel about them.

Love is not just an emotion, but a way of behaving.

Margaret Curtis, Atlanta

Professor should take stand for students

My first and only response to college professor Eric Fox’s decision to “head for the woods” rather than stand up and teach (“Students lost in digital wasteland,” @issue, April 27) was that he’s a chicken and should probably stay in the woods where he can do no more harm. For him to say he can’t take it anymore, but that he would return to teaching if he ” finds the landscape revitalized by common sense…” is just utter nonsense.

Who does he think is going to “revitalize” our system if it’s not him and others like him. On one hand, I applaud Mr. Fox for his passion for teaching but, in giving up, he is giving up on his kids. Just where would we be if everyone who didn’t agree with the system just fled to the woods and stuck their heads in the sand? Isn’t that what the bureaucrats are doing now?

You, Mr. Fox, are just abandoning our children. Don’t do it. Stand in there and fight, damn it!

Allen Facemire, Norcross

Self-respect will improve learning

In response to college professor Eric Fox and the lack of attention of technology-focused students, I suggest mandatory classes on self-respect might be one solution. Manners and respect for self and others are the responsibility of the parents. However, the parents are working and trying to save their homes so there is little time left at the end of the day to talk to their children.

Mandatory self-respect classes in the third, sixth and ninth grades need to be mastered and passed. Once the students respect themselves and others, especially their teachers, they will be able to understand the true wisdom school affords.

A teacher can recite her lesson plans, give tests to aid them in passing the required proficiency tests until their faces turn blue, but as long as the students are text messaging friends, listening to their Ipods, and throwing paper airplanes into the ceilings, there will be no learning.

Other factors that might help accomplish self-respect are learning to take responsibility for their actions and training to have the tenacity to complete their goals.

Lucille Wilkins, Fayetteville

Students need to switch on brains

When I read Eric Fox’s editorial on the digital wasteland that students are trapped in, I couldn’t help but nod my head. As one of those trapped students, I know how the digital wonderland is becoming a lot less wonderful. I look around in my classes and no one is interested in what’s happening. We learn to take the test and then the rest of cogitation is pointless. We don’t need to think for school anymore —- we can get by with using other people’s thoughts found on the Internet. We’re fed bites of knowledge, so our attention span is so short that we can’t even finish a book. The Internet and other technology are a wonderful connection to the rest of the world, but they are not a substitute for a brain.

Mary-Margaret Greene, Decatur

Time to take the fiddles

Laura Braziel’s firsthand indictment of a standardized test-based “education” and Eric Fox’s equally disturbing personal revelations on the disheartening dearth of reading, writing, and thinking skills among the cyber-besotted young should be required reading as a first step to wresting the fiddles from the well-intentioned but misguided Neros watching bewilderedly as a once-proud but now largely dysfunctional education system burns.

Dan Cowles, Cumming

William Faulkner would blog now

Bob Dylan had it right when he hollered those famous, almost cliche, words: “The times they, they are a-changin’.” But instead of sitting in my family room listening to the record player, I’m writing this response to college professor Eric Fox, iPod in ear. And, contrary to the professor, there’s nothing wrong with that.

Yes, the Internet “fosters impatience, fractures time, distorts context and fulfills our desire for instant gratification,” but it also enables knowledge for the masses —- on par with any library —- and in a fraction of the time.

Yes, we can name technology as the scapegoat for all education’s problems, but it’s simply a catalyst for everything our education enables. Our education system is really what all those words describe. To expect all schools to graduate 100 percent of its seniors by 2014 without drastic reforms is impatient. To cram education into a one-size-fits-all serving is distorted.

The Internet, if anything, bolsters creativity. The Fitzgeralds, Angelous and Faulkners are now bloggers, laying out their writing for the world to see. The Dylans, Lennons and Madonnas are all on MySpace and passing out mixtapes on our streets. Change is good. Blame something else for our lethargy.

Andrea Robinson, editor of Decatur High’s Carpe Diem newsmagazine

Internet can enhance learning

While reading college professor Eric Fox’s diatribe about the Internet and his students, I was contemplating one of the subjects that I recently studied. I desire to live as healthy a lifestyle as possible. So online, I started researching our nation’s food delivery system. Interestingly, this took me to many documentary films which are available online and for free. The more I dug, searched and researched, I learned about our complex food system. The interesting thing: All this information is available for free, and I could do this on my own time.

Of course, we all know, the Internet is not going away. Things are changing rapidly and like any revolution, there is much turmoil. Teachers, students, parents —- in essence, all of us, need to have an open mind because with the proper tools and education, we can fill it with much valuable information.

Ken Leebow, Marietta

You can ace test, but miss the real lesson

Heartiest congratulations to UGA student Laura Braziel for her delightful and insightful column (“If it’s not the test, don’t expect me to know it,” @issue, April 27). She has said things that I’ve known and believed for years. I am a retired chemistry teacher, having taught in DeKalb at Avondale High for 19 years. During that time, I emphatically refused to “teach to the test,” and my retirement was to some extent precipitated by the reality that, despite my awareness of the total absurdity of the current test-based curriculum, I would soon have no choice but to comply.

Like Laura, but several generations sooner, I learned how to “beat the test.” However, I was also blessed that in those days the tests were considered merely “indicators,” not the be-all and end-all of one’s educational achievement. Besides congratulations, I wish to offer Laura encouragement. Hang in there, young lady. You know where it’s “at.”

Just keep chasing it!

Trudie Barreras, Atlanta

Poor kids can’t afford the extras

As a volunteer for an organization that attempts to provide the basic needs for those who struggle, I can understand the opposition to special school projects that require much more than many parents can afford (“Postermania grabs hold of schools,” @issue, April 19). The outrageous monetary requirements of public schools carry over into many areas including sports and “special” field trips. Many students cannot participate in team sports as they do not have the “required” equipment and field trips because their parents struggle to provide food and clothing and other basic necessities.

Yes, I do know that fund-raisers are available. I have seen the overpriced candy, coffee and cookies. But the fees, uniforms, equipment must be paid upfront and recouped later, something not every family can do. Right now, it is hard for many families to keep food on the table and clothing on their children’s backs. Their kids sit at home wishing they could take that trip or step up to plate.

Certainly, these are not basic needs, but are needs that could make a difference in the futures of these children.

Gloria Logan, Woodstock