THE PUBLIC MIND: HOW WILL REFORMS HELP HEAL EDUCATION?

To the Editor:

I rarely write letters to the editor. It's not that I don't have opinions on public issues. (I have a plethora of opinions, just ask my wife.) I've always just figured no one really reads the letters to the editor, except maybe the writer's mother. So, instead, I usually write my mother a letter.

Therefore, you can imagine how gratified I was when Brenda Schmidt of Perryville not only took the trouble to read a letter I submitted to your publication on a recent speech by Allan Brownfeld delivered at SEMO University but also composed a response. Unfortunately, the problem with writing anything (even a letter to the editor) is that you may be misread. I believe Ms. Schmidt misread my letter, and I would appreciate the opportunity to re-express my opinions on Mr. Brownfeld's speech and perhaps elaborate on them a little.

Ms. Schmidt charges that I "maligned" Mr. Brownfeld in my previous letter. I never slandered or defamed Mr. Brownfeld. In fact, I praised his astute analysis of a major ill plaguing our society the breakdown of the American family. However, I did correct one misstatement of fact made by Mr. Brownfeld and challenged what I perceived as some questionable reasoning.

In his speech, Mr. Brownfeld stated that America spends more money per pupil than any other country in the world. In reality, the United States ranks 13th out of the 16 leading industrialized nations on per pupil expenditure for elementary and secondary education.

The example of questionable reasoning I challenged pertained to Mr. Brownfeld's solution to our society's serious educational problem~s. Ms. Schmidt asserts that Mr. Brownfeld "may have been amiss" in relating the breakdown of the American family to our problems in education today. Nothing could be further from the truth. As Mr. Brownfeld masterfully demonstrated in his speech, our nation's 50 percent divorce rate, the fact that one-fifth of America's children are living in single-parent households, the exponential growth of two working-parent families, and the fact that nearly a quarter of our children live in homes in which the income is at or below the poverty line are a root cause of our education problems in this country.

Yes, student failure today can be directly linked to family failure. And families in America are failing at an astonishing and unprecedented rate.

Consequently, it seemed to me that Mr. Brownfeld's solutions to our education problems should have centered on ways to solve the family crisis in America. But Mr. Brownfeld never addressed this root cause in his proposed solutions: school choice, vouchers, merit pay, teacher competency testing.

It's true these may be "astounding" and "innovative ideas" as Ms. Schmidt calls them. More importantly, though, are they sound solutions? How will these reforms solve the underlying cause of our educational problems in this country? Will they save the American family? Mr. Brownfeld never said. And, frankly, I haven't seen any empirical evidence to suggest they can or will. Maybe Ms. Schmidt possesses such evidence. If so, I would very much like to see it.

~Raymond J. PeatsJackson