Fix the literacy gap with early education
I agree with Michael Sheehan that Washington needs to pass the Early Learning Act [“Washington needs to pass an Early Learning Act,” Opinion, guest commentary, Dec. 28].
Although funding for early childhood education would be good for all children, at this point, all children don’t need it.
Our school system has had a continual problem trying to make the system work for all segments of our population. Where it continually fails is in reaching underprivileged minority students. The reason we fail to adequately serve many minorities is that the school system was designed to meet the needs of reasonably well-educated, White middle-class families.
It works well for families whose cultural traditions include a long history of literacy. Those of highly literate cultures know how to instill literate skills in the children — they read to them and teach them at home at an early age.
These parents also have the background to help their children with homework.
The parents of some minority children, on the other hand, may not have finished high school, may be illiterate or not be literate in English, and may not have the understanding of how essential the early literate preparation is to prepare children for our school system.
As a result, by the time they enter kindergarten, children of underprivileged minorities may be a couple of years behind their peers who went to preschool or had similar teaching at home. The gap in education can grow and leave the children angry and frustrated at the school system that has failed them, making them more likely to drop out.
Therefore, if we do not fix this gap in early education, we will continue to fail these students.
— Leslie Jordan, Shoreline
Lower standards lower parents’ hopes
Did I hear Randy Dorn correctly — he wants to lower math standards [“Schools chief blinks,” Opinion, editorial, Nov. 20]?
Excuse me, but I thought Dorn was elected with a mandate, to raise expectations, rid us of the failed WASL and implement methods that would actually test our children’s abilities, then give them the tools to succeed.
Yet Dorn’s solution now is to simply lower standards?
Like Michael Sheehan [“Washington needs to pass an Early Learning Act,” Opinion, guest commentary, Dec. 28], I am appalled — actually — more ashamed, with the lower standards that give a false sense of success, just to garner more federal or state dollars. Our children need the most comprehensive education we can give them, and you cannot put a price on that.
While Dorn continues to lower standards for those who cannot, or will not achieve, our best and brightest continue to be left to a future of mediocrity, their needs unmet. At some point, they realize that there is no longer a need to even remain engaged in high performance, they can simply get by with minimal effort.
It is because of lowered standards that our children are unable to compete with even emerging nations like China and India for industrial and technology jobs, why employees of some businesses must rely on their advanced cash registers to tell them how much change to give a customer.
When these students get to the point that they cannot tell you how many quarters it takes to make a dollar for bus fare, will we wake up, or simply hope technology evolves enough to give them a machine to make up for that failure as well?
— Carol Brister, Lake Stevens