Dear Editor:
I see that Huntley Project Schools has decided to throw in the towel on education moving to a four-day school week. I agree with Tim Ley not being convinced that this is in the best interest of students. In fact, this is part of a further degradation in rigor in our public schools in general. I was one of the better students in my day, but I was really unprepared fully for college at a serious university as a freshman. I would like to know how education levels and higher expectations of achievement in real subjects like reading, writing, and arithmetic are enhanced by these types of changes. I doubt they are.
When I was a professor in New Jersey and listened to all the complaining American students about the homework required and the actual education that was needed, I decided to teach the point. In my class were several Asian students. Some were from Korea and a few from China. I asked the Asians how many days a week they went to high school or were full-time studying related to high school course demands. The Koreans said six, the Chinese students said seven. The people around the world are hard at work preparing their young people well, and now we as Americans languish in educational mediocrity trying to limit the education we offer to our young people rather than push them to greater heights.
But, I guess there is some consolation. They are teaching the Asians and now Indians (from India) leadership and management courses so that they can manage their American workers better. Hopefully they will be kind taskmasters.
Michael McNiven – HP Alumni
West Lafayette, Indiana,
Subscriber
