Many Students Leave Themselves Behind

By Louise Tabb Whipple

Editor, Times-Dispatch:

I must take issue with your lead editorial, “The Decision,” with its specific references to Mayor Wilder’s commitment to improving not only SOL test scores (as if that were the only proof of a quality public education) but also the quality of instruction in the schools.

As a teacher in the Richmond public schools, I am in charge of instruction in my classroom. I work long hours before and after my students

enter my classroom for instruction each day, and would that it were possible to open their heads and simply pour in all that I have to offer them in the way of education and preparation for taking these government-mandated tests that are the basis for measurement for No Child Left Behind.

But it’s not that easy. When a student does not come to school because he “doesn’t want to” or because his eyes itch a little from spring pollen or because he stayed up late playing a video game, I cannot teach him at all.

Or when a student decides that he might graciously appear in the classroom but then spend his time surreptitiously or openly disturbing the rest of the class, I cannot teach him. When a student refuses to do any classwork or homework, I cannot teach him.

When a student spends much of his school time wandering the halls, always just beyond the grasp of security guards, neither I nor any other teacher can teach him. When a student is offered innumerable tutoring sessions and retakes of a failed SOL test and refuses to appear, we cannot help the student.

Yet all of the above reasons for a student’s failure are held against – the student? No! These reasons are held against the teachers who somehow

failed in their attempts to sufficiently appeal to the student’s yearning for entertainment and excitement (in 15-minute segments) and ample stoking of

his self-esteem. (I’ve always held the wild idea that if a child could learn something through some hard work of his own, his self- esteem would soar on its own.)

Teachers need Mayor Wilder to realize that we are not leaving behind these students; they are leaving themselves behind!

MEMO: CORRESPONDENT OF THE DAY

(c) 2007 Richmond Times – Dispatch. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.