Regarding the Oct. 22 Viewpoints commentary, “More money isn’t the answer for schools”: I believe that Ms. Finne wants to improve public education, but I’m not sure if she realizes the reality of the situation.
For example, she repeatedly complains about the amount of money Everett spends on public education, implying that it’s being squandered, thus wasted. However, she fails to refute the possibility that maybe it takes that much money in Everett to get the results they are achieving. Maybe, if less were spent, then Everett’s performance would be worse.
Additionally, she doesn’t adjust for public schools having to educate everyone who walks through the door, or for selective private schools that filter out children who cannot afford it, or parents that don’t care enough about education to choose a private or charter school. That’s like comparing how long a cell phone lasts a teenager without damage to how long one lasts a business professional, then blaming the phone manufacturer for making poor phones for teenagers.
Finne favors accountability and firing poor teachers. Unavoidably, there are a few poor teachers, just as all jobs have a few poor workers. However, how do you differentiate between a truly poor teacher and one with students who don’t want to be there, are frequently absent, will not do assignments when they are present, whose parents won’t support getting work done and in fact don’t care themselves about school?
Be sure that you measure the quality of instruction rather than the quality of students.
Jeff Riechel
Snohomish
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
