Letters to the Editor
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Wrong homework?
Maybe the lesson that life is pain is not such a bad idea?
There is so much wrong with the education system in the U.S. I hardly know where to begin. At least Ms. Waldman's children are doing homework and finding out that learning means work. This is better than many other places. For example, one of my nephews endured a few months of the Oakland (CA) Public School system. There a D+ was the only socially acceptable grade and the other children would accuse any who did better of "trying to be Asian." The practice of "social promotion" -- the passing of students into the next grade regardless of whether they did any homework or passed any tests -- has created a huge number of people who have no concept of school as anything other than a parking lot for their bodies. Surveys of college freshman have uncovered an epidemic of cheating and plagiarism. Oh, and we have schools graduating students who can not read.
Salon could run stories on the demise of public education in the U.S. The problems occur across state boundaries and have far reaching implications. But instead we read about yet another middle-class parent complaining about how difficult the middle-class life has become. The U.S. has droves of children not receiving anything even pretending to be an education. At least when they grow up Waldman's children will likely qualify to perform jobs that pay well enough for them to live.