It's not the children or the teachers; it's the curriculum and the pace at which it is being instructed. If you ask the teachers, who are instructing the honors curriculum, they will tell you the same thing. They are being pressured to meet established curriculum levels and know that the children do not fully comprehend the subject matter. Learning takes time and effort and rushing through a curriculum inhibits this. I wonder how much these students will retain after this semester is completed. Probably less than they would if they had an entire school year and less stress.
This all goes back to recent reports that our nation's students are behind the rest of the industrialized world in math and science test levels. Our educational system attempts to do a quick fix on the system and bases the results on student test scores.
This is the wrong approach to allegedly fix our educational system. We must rely on our teachers and their professional skills to teach our children. Give them the resources for the classroom and enough time and our children will succeed. Don't make the classroom as stressful as the business environment we work in everyday. Let them have a learning environment that illicits thought and imagination, not memorization of facts and figures to pass a test. I don't want a robot for a child, I want a creative soul.
If our country is in such bad shape educationally, then why are we still the most powerful and successful country in the world?
Don't base our children's education on test scores. Let them enjoy the school environment and take the stress out of learning. I would like to hear from parents, teachers, administrators and School Board members on this issue.
J.O. Harne
Keedysville
Explore alternate housing solutions
To the editor:
Overbuilding is a big problem today. Not just in my used-to-be quiet town of Boonsboro, but all over the county. Everywhere you turn, it seems another housing development is being built. Especially in Boonsboro, the once quiet farm hills are now full of loud construction machinery building new housing complexes.
This overbuilding is harming everyone. Like in California, where landslides are becoming more frequent after every rain, killing at least five people at a time. This is because builders are cutting down trees that used to hold down the soil and building houses in their place.
Maybe in an ironic way this is what we deserve for what we are doing. It's not just hurting nature - have you visited any of the schools recently? If you have, you may have noticed the thousands of students who almost max out the fire codes limit, or the classes that have 30 plus students in them, many of whom struggle because they can't get the help they deserve from the teacher, because she's too busy breaking up fights and finding room for "the new kid who just transferred from the city."
Country towns are now seeing more car accidents and people being hit by cars because of the people moving in who are used to the driving they did in the city (yes, there is a difference).
I see why we need to build more houses, and I understand it. More and more people are in this world every day and need houses. But why do they have to keep building out in the country? There are plenty of run down houses in the cities. Why don't people fix them up and make them livable again?
Many will say money is an issue, but there are ways to work deals with cities, or the people who own the buildings. Also, instead of building out, why don't we build up by adding higher apartments. Stability, you say? Well, make sure they're secure, or start building down, under the ground.
In the end someone will make the decision on this issue. And the one lonely voice that talks about it will eventually be silenced by all the construction sounds. Voice your opinions at a town meeting, make yourself heard, let people know that you do care about the farm lands, the run down buildings and the people that die in landslides every couple of days.
Let it be known that you want all the construction sounds to stop waking you up so early in the morning, so that maybe you can get a full, good night's sleep and not be grumpy all day. The possibility is that you aren't the only one who feels this way.
Andrea Smith
Boonsboro
