Dear Editor: I was disappointed by D. Kennedy's commentary in the Jan. 2 edition of the AFN, in which the ranting about "educrats" doesn't seem to end. While Kennedy raises some valid concerns, like the fact that some people can't do basic addition without a calculator, claims of indoctrination miss the mark. As a high school senior, in the past four years I have seen a variety of problems: student newspapers are regularly (and lawfully) censored and controlled by administrators, teachers have quoted appalling statistics about the number of students destined for college (that figure is about 10 percent) and discipline seems to be a bigger priority in high school than helping students who are struggling with classwork. Those "educrats" might be building a "nation of sheep," but teaching the science of global warming is not the problem in my mind. The bigger problem is that while a great many students are fortunate enough to have parents who do care about school, those who do not are left to a system that asks for responsibility but delivers discipline in the name of protecting the innocent. Parental involvement, as the author suggests, is significant but the question is not so much one of educational content as it is one of flexibility in a currently very rigid system. Emerson French Senior, McClintock High School Resident, Ahwatukee Foothills
Loop 202 - Jim Jochim Interview read more
PARC Treasurer Jim Jochim sits down with Allison Hurtado to discuss the Phoenix Loop 202 project at the Ahwatukee Foothills News office on Monday, May 13, 2013.
