There are ways to improve education

As with any problem like education, there isn't any one simple solution. The question of quality of elementary teaching is a good example of this. There are a number of areas that need constant, patient, well thought-through attention. Deciding how to do a good job of teaching student teachers to teach is an area that needs study and real work.

Youngsters in the third, fourth and fifth grades need to be actively taught by rehearsal, repetition and patience, the better to properly comprehend reading, math and science in doses of a reasonable amount they can handle. The early grades are absolutely the most important time for learning to study. It is challenging to teach young children to do this but it is very important. As to the how, I'm not in the teaching business. It's up to the "No Children Left Behind" people to work out a program.

This is not a six-week project with a dramatic ending in success. It will take a lot of time to achieve what we should be after. For the Department of Education to achieve discernable results will take strong effort. But it may be the single most important thing it can do. Going to where it all begins is the place to attack the problem. Parents have been allowed to duck the level of working with small children to do school work at home. There must be a strong presence of this developed.

Terry Savage has recently written an article on just this subject, pushing hard for the educational system to be toughened up to make it more competitive with other countries. She strongly suggests power be taken away from local school districts and to create a central or national curriculum. She would increase compensation and incentives for teachers while doing away with union restrictions that protect ineffective teachers. These ideas are not just desirable, they are mandatory. There has to be a reason why charter schools produce students that test higher than public schools in the same city or district.

If America is to succeed in the future, we need a skilled work force. I have read 50 percent of the children who enter high school don't graduate. Of those who do and go to college, only 20 percent of this 50 percent actually graduate.

It is due to evidence such as this that all the bright, proven successful youngsters who emigrate to this country should be encouraged to stay here as long as they want. This is what made this country the great country it is, and the immigration law on this should be changed.

Chuck Barr, Jr.

St. Charles