THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 3, 1996 TAG: 9605030003
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 42 lines
I fear that voters in Hampton Roads will be influenced in their choice of school-board members because of misinformation regarding education and Goals 2000 (letters, ``Beware Goals 2000,'' James E. Munford, April 28).
I was privileged to be a member of a Goals 2000 committee working on Goal 5, Adult Learning and Lifelong Literacy. Some of the brightest and best minds in the country assembled to discuss ways to improve education. David Perkins, senior research associate at Harvard Graduate School of Education, and Peter Facione, author of The California Critical Thinking Dispositions and Inventory, were two. These scholars have a sincere interest in designing better learning from kindergarten through college.
The Goals are not a secret document. They can be obtained from the U.S. Department of Education. Goal 3, for example, states in part that students leaving grades ``four, eight and twelve demonstrate competency in challenging subject matter including English, mathematics, history and geography.'' These are reasonable goals, not dangerous ones, if our students are to compete in a changing world.
Contrary to what alarmists may say, schools today educate students as well as they did yesterday, despite frightening odds. According to the National Assessment of Education Progress, 9 year olds do sightly better in mathematics and science and read as well as students did in the past. The problem is that schools have to do better. As society becomes more technologically complex, all students must develop advanced skills if they are to thrive. So society in history has acheived that goal.
School-board members must be elected for their leadership and vision for the future. Our schools need all available resources, both money and minds, if they are to accomplish this herculean task.
VIRGINIA O'KEEFE
Virginia Beach, April 28, 1996 by CNB