Guest Column
I take this opportunity to thank you for such an informative and motivational editorial about the “Education Report.” It is unfortunate that the Arkansas Department of Education has identified schools in the Pine Bluff and Dollarway School Districts as being the lowest performing schools in the state. Something must be done immediately to eradicate this problem. Our children are too precious to be allowed to keep on having school as usual.
We must hire better administrators and teachers who truly care about our children and quickly identify those who do not. I believe things will soon change for the better, because the Dollarway District has Mr. Frank Anthony, who is a master at solving educational issues. The Pine Bluff District has just employed Dr. Linda Watson as interim superintendent. I met her at the “Meet and Greet” gathering in June and found her to be an exceptional individual and a highly experienced educator — the kind of leader this district needs to help remove this awful stigma that is overshadowing our students. So, please don’t let her get away.
I would like to suggest the following ideas:
Make teachers happy again! Do away with the unnecessary paperwork demanded by the state Education Department. They don’t realize that paperwork doesn’t teach…happy and concerned teachers do. One can spend all his time on paperwork and then not have the energy or time to do a good job teaching the students. Remember, a frustrated teacher cannot teach!
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
We must give our students a good foundation. If a good foundation is given in grades K-3, we would not need to try and reteach skills in higher grades. We would just add skills as they advance. We must employ the best teachers available to teach students in grades K-3. We need teachers who love children, and have the special energy to give it their all. Some teachers don’t have the energy or patience to teach smaller children. That is one of the problems in most school districts. Remember — if a house is built on a good foundation, it will last a long, long time without repair.
We need to go back to the child-development point of view — teaching the child on his level, especially in reading and math. This will help with discipline also. Remember, students learn better when the skills are not too advanced for them.
Stop teaching the test! Teach students to take tests. Teachers can make their tests on daily subject matter taught in the same format of the national test. They will become familiar with the test. Remember, perfect practice makes perfect.
I beg the Pine Bluff School District to go back to the “systematic teaching of reading.” If students are taught properly, word attack, contextual and comprehension skills, in grades kindergarten through sixth grades, they should become successful students of reading in all subject matter areas.
It is crucial that we make reading a priority and do all we can to teach our children to read even if that means we need to train or retrain teachers of reading. Finally, we urge parents to genuinely love your children enough to teach and model good behavior before them. When parents fail to teach children to obey authority, they are setting them up to become failures in school and the society.
Mattie Boone Collins
Pine Bluff
Mattie Boone Collins taught school in the Pine Bluff School for 35 years and retired in 1994. She lives in Pine Bluff.