Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1960-09-29

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than to learn-at least to learn
what is intended. To condemn,
out of hand, an honest attempt
to generate a system in which
learning can proceed at a great
er pace and with greater effect
Is inexcusable.
Let me quote one of Mr.. Eat
mans inanities. why should
the child of today be considered
any different from the one of a
generation ago who learned to
read and write in a specified
school grade without all this
claptrap about being emotional
ly ready'?". suggest to Mr..
Zatman, as the father of a child
who needed special reading in
struction and in the fifth
grade cannot read adequately
because he did not get it, that
some children, regardless of in
telligence, can read at the age of
six, some at age four, and some
not until the age of eight, pre-.
cisely and exactly because they
are not ready to learn to read.
Whether these children, classed
today as "emotionally unready"
are emotionally immature, brain
damaged, neurologically retard-
ed, or whatever, Is not exactly
known-but the fact is known
regardless of the name it goes
by. (My son was handicapped
because he inverted words (saw
for was, etc. and because he
moved his eyes from right to
left. This emotional unreadiness
required special Institutional
techniques not available in my
generation or in Mr.. Zatman's).
In an unsigned editorial and
in Mr.. Byron's column an argu-
ment is made to select the con-
sentative School Board candi-
dates - the implication being
that they will cut school costs
and improve the quality of edu.
cation. The Sentinel agrees edi-
torially with one of these can
didates who said that %. no
one can be truly educated
unless he can read easily, speak
in fluent grammatical English
and possesses at least q basic
understanding of mathematics"
Is such a plan to be considered
educated? One glaring omission
in this statement, of course, Is
the ability to write fluently and
easily, and meaningfully. We al
so expect that children in school
learn a variety of subject mat
ter areas in which we expect
adults to be informed.
This same editorial supports
the same candidate on a point
which could cost the county in
excess of $5O0,000 a year (by
my rough estimate). This point
concerns a matter In which
teachers have been working for
years, only to be told by their
supervisors that matters of ba-
sic Observation-Disclosures, labora.
tories, Institutional materials,
and basic classroom space -
come first, and which the tax
payers would not support in any
event! I refer to the matter of
relieving teachers of clerical re-
sponsibilities and baby sitting
duties.
l suggest that Mr.. Zatman
and Mr.. Byron are right in one
respect however. Our schools
and our educators are not per-
feet. They are, in my opinion,
very imperfect. That imperfec-
ton needs to be corrected, and
it needs correcting now. But II
anyone thinks 1t can be done
cheaply-as we are now doing
or more cheaply-- as some
seem to think-I say they are
mistaken. 1t will take money, 1t
will take the aid and assistance
of experts other than educators,
and it will take initiative and
experimentation in local schools.
l suggest that il the Sentinel is
interested in improving educa-
ton in Montgomery County that
1t drop its overpowering con-
Germ with the hallowed dollar,
and get down to the nuts and
bolts of discovering just what
we have, just what we should
have, and proceed to lead public
opinion in the direction of better
education. l suggest, in short,
that the Sentinel and its editors
quit sharpshooting and start
offering constructive criticism.
Andrew II. Mcclure