Readers write

Poor educational quality needs to be addressed

The Sunday, Dec. 14, AJC article (“As enrollment declines, the move to close schools looms”) discusses school closings and speaks to the reasons schools are closing. There’s nothing the school districts can do about birth rates or the price of housing, but they can address one of the reasons home schooling and charter schools and private schools are draining so many students from public schools, and that’s the poor quality of the education experience delivered by public schools.

Certainly, there are exceptions, and the exceptions should be recognized and rewarded, but the bulk of students in the systems are deprived of a positive foundation on which to build a life by teachers who are not proficient in the subject matter they are supposed to teach, lack of the political will necessary to enforce discipline in the classroom, social promotion and a culture of not letting individual responsibility determine individual results.

People live up to or down to expectations that are expressed and reinforced. If public schools are no more than places to send kids to get them out of the house, we should expect every parent capable of putting their child in a better learning environment to take advantage of alternatives to public education, and we should expect more school closures to follow.

The film “Waiting for Superman” explains the impact a good educational experience can make on a child. However, given what I just wrote, nothing takes the place of two caring parents, and there’s nothing the school districts can do about that, either. As you write about the issues surrounding our public schools, which are extremely important to America’s future, please deal with the realities of the situation and be a catalyst to help change the status quo toward a more beneficial future for our kids and our country.

LANE WOLBE, SANDY SPRINGS

Remembering when students had fewer distractions