Clarification on NCLB letter
Dear Editor:I am an alumna of USU, but I still like to read the Statesman and keep up with university events. While reading the opinion section in the March 9 issue, I noticed a letter extolling the virtures of NCLB. Now I will be first to admit that I think the legislation behind NCLB was brainless. On the surface, the idea is a good one, but there is no way it will work. It’s setting itself up for implosion in the end. I disagree with most of Ms. Parke’s points, but the only one that really irks me is the idea of research-based instruction instead of using the students as “lab rats.” I’m sorry, but instruction that is thought up by a bunch of people with Ph.Ds who never set foot in a classroom, much less taught a high school course are not qualified to determine which teaching techniques are more efficient and effective. Techniques have to be tried out on the students at some point. How else will you be sure they work? That type of defense is the reason NCLB is protested by a large percentage of teachers in the U.S.A. (and no I don’t know the exact figure).P.S. I don’t know if the Statesman actually prints letters from non-students, but I wanted to respond.Teri Gee