Letter to the Editor: More teachers, that’s what works
Dear Editor,
A coal shovel and a piece of chalk, that’s what Abraham Lincoln often used, and he became the 16th president of the United States.
What makes people think that spending millions of dollars for Chromebooks is a better way of learning than a notebook, pencil and a real book, with a real teacher?
Since the 21st century began, our public school districts have committed more education dollars to Silicon Valley than for the only tool that really works — teachers. We are 15 years into this century, and after all the millions of dollars spent on Silicon Valley’s so-called tools for education, there has not been any real improvement in the quality of education. Again, do we keep financing Silicon Valley, or do we do the right thing and hire more teachers and let them teach?
I have to wonder who is really running our public schools.
I had a good friend who was an English teacher. One day I found him in the local drug store in the comic book section. Well, I just had to ask why he was in this section.
He said, “You know, Jim, my job is to teach English, reading and writing, and if it takes a comic book to teach a child to read, then that’s what I am going to do. And, you know, Jim, it works.”
Why are the public schools financing Silicon Valley and Bill Gates? We need real teachers — that’s what works.
James E. Saffel Sr.
Mascoutah
This story was originally published July 2, 2015 at 3:00 AM with the headline "Letter to the Editor: More teachers, that’s what works."