Letter to the Editor, Star Banner, October 12, 1999
To the Editor,
One of my greatest concerns while I was in school administration was that our schools should not be merely "opportunity schools" instead of "student centered schools." As opportunity schools, teachers provided groups of students the opportunity to learn what the teacher was trying to teach. Those students who weren't able to or didn't take advantage of the opportunities were left behind. If this happened to students in basic subjects in early elementary grades, and no corrective steps were taken to bring such students up to snuff, many such students developed a strong dislike for school and left it as soon as they could.
From personal experiences with a grandson now in 6th grade and several middle school teachers, I'm concerned that some of our Marion County schools may be more "opportunity schools" rather than "student centered schools". In a "student centered school", every student is to be helped to master certain basic skills each year which are vital to future learnings--few if any are to be left behind while others move way ahead of them. The most productive Title I program known to me was the individual tutoring program provided by trained lay tutors to students who needed one-to-one tutoring on basic subjects in elementary schools to be prepared for later learning experiences. The tutors supplemented classroom instruction and were supervised by teachers
I will focus only on my grandson's fifth grade experiences in math. His teacher and
mother, our daughter, shared their concerns about his poor math skills; but, nothing
constructive was done to help him. As the year progressed, he got further behind. He
repeatedly was embarrassed when the teacher called on him, and he gave incorrect
answers. The other students laughed at him, so he did what he could to avoid being called
on by the teacher. At the end of the year, the teacher "gave" him a "C" in math. She told
his mother he was not ready for 6th grade math and advised her to get some help for him
over the summer months and to purchase the Middle School Math book to use with him.
Mother did this.
When the school year ended, mother told me about the problem and her interest in getting
a tutor for him. I had a chat with him and was flabbergasted with his low level of math
skills. I agreed to work with him 1-2 hours each week day for more than a month. Initially,
he seemed to have a mental block even on simple math problems. Eventually, he improved
and was ready for 6th grade math as his performance thus far this school year has shown.
Several years ago, a middle school math teacher told me she teaches algebra and, if the
students don't have the basic math skills needed to do algebra, she doesn't have the time to
help them individually. A middle school English teacher told me if her students don't know
how to read when they enter her class, they will be lost as she will not have time to help
them individually with their reading. Something very wrong in both cases.
Smaller class size will help at all levels; but, some teachers will need to change their
methods and goals to be sure that most if not all students learn the basics needed to move
successfully on to other related learnings. .
Computers can help individualize learning; but, that's mostly an adjunct to a good teacher.
James M. O'Hara