PUBLIC FORUM : L.A. LEARNING STANDARDS ARE `PURE NONSENSE'.Re the Daily News March 31-April 3, L.A. schools learning standards Learning Standards is a term used to describe standards applied to education content, particularly in the US K-12 space. The Learning Standards themselves can can be found on the individual web sites for states [1] : The draft proposal makes for interesting reading. I haven't read so much ``educratese'' and pure nonsense since reviewing the CLAS CLAS 1. Cholesterol-Lowering Atherosclerosis Study A study using colestipol and niacin in ♂ with previous CABG surgery 2. Circulating lupus anticoagulant syndrome. See Antiphospholipid antibody syndrome, Lupus anticoagulant. tests last year. How could anyone comment intelligently to such a bunch of generalities? How about some teaching and testing on some specifics? Like, can they read the directions on a can of shoe polish and know how to use the polish properly? Can they read a newspaper and know the content in detail? Can they write a note to their parents or a friend that is intelligible, with words properly spelled? How about knowing the multiplication tables through 12? How about some knowledge in algebra, geometry and maybe, before graduation, a little dab of calculus? Instead of all the ``environmental evaluation'' learning, how about some basic biology, zoology zoology, branch of biology concerned with the study of animal life. From earliest times animals have been vitally important to man; cave art demonstrates the practical and mystical significance animals held for prehistoric man. , chemistry and physics so that they can discern the difference between ``junk'' science and true science? What was the Civil War all about? The War of 1812? Why did we fight in Korea, Vietnam and Kuwait? Using all these terms like ``apply, evaluate, analyze, and differentiate'' leads us back into the CLAS type of subjective testing, rather than using plain old multiple-choice and essay tests to determine whether the student has a solid grasp of the basics. These ``learning standards'' are more of the same old pap - just a way to keep us from knowing whether teachers and students are failing. Karl W Jakel Montrose I was sick to see that the educators who had proposed these standards could not use simple declarative de·clar·a·tive adj. 1. Serving to declare or state. 2. Of, relating to, or being an element or construction used to make a statement: a declarative sentence. n. statements in their proposals. Instead, they resorted to gobbledygook gob·ble·dy·gook also gob·ble·de·gook n. Unclear, wordy jargon. [Imitative of the gobbling of a turkey.] Noun 1. that cannot be understood, is subject to interpretation and cannot be used to set standards. I was angry about all the time and thousands of dollars had been wasted. It seems that these standards could have been expressed in simpler English words so that everyone could interpret them and evaluate their usage. - J.P. Hughes California City Unprepared students Isn't it embarrassing to read about how unprepared the students are in English and math? California State University Enrollment  campuses have to offer remedial classes. According to according toprep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the news articles I read, the top 33 percent of all students can go to the state universities. Can you imagine what the preparation is like in the other 67 percent of the students who go on to college. The question always comes up: Who are we going to blame? The colleges blame the senior highs; the senior highs blame the middle schools; the middle schools blame the elementary schools; and the elementary schools blame the parents. I cannot speak for the math problem but I can address the English problem, as I had 36 years with the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. in English before I retired three years ago. Supposedly, one of the main reasons students attend school is to learn how to think and develop their logical thinking skills. The only course in the English curriculum that has a complete emphasis on this type of material is expository composition, which seniors take in the 12th grade. It is usually too late to cram and develop all of these thinking skills in the last year of high school. The result is an English student who is not prepared for the high standards of a college English class. The only thing I suggest to the Cal State campuses is to give all entering students an essay and if they don't pass it, deny them entrance. What a shame. Students go to high school for three years and very few have the proper English skills required for college. - Ed Rasky West Hills Editorial rebuttal rebuttal n. evidence introduced to counter, disprove or contradict the opposition's evidence or a presumption, or responsive legal argument. The Daily News March 29 editorial (``Megadump trashed'') missed the mark regarding Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. waste disposal issues. First, the special interest initiative placed on the San Bernardino San Bernardino, city, United States San Bernardino (săn bûr'nədē`nō), city (1990 pop. 164,164), seat of San Bernardino co., S Calif., at the foot of the San Bernardino Mts.; inc. 1854. County ballot in an attempt to stop the Rail Cycle project was defeated, due to voters' recognition of the project's environmental benefits. A second county measure, which was also defeated did not ``authorize'' Rail Cycle. It dealt with voter approval of a special fee structure previously negotiated between Rail Cycle and San Bernardino County. This issue can be addressed in other ways, enabling the project to proceed. More importantly, the editorial side steps the two public policy approaches that underpin the Rail Cycle project: maximum recycling and a safe, modern landfill site landfill site n → vertedero landfill site n → centre m d'enfouissement des déchets landfill site land n far from population centers, water resources and seismic zones. The Daily News editorial promoting local landfills ignored the value of long-term integrated waste management systems focused on recycling. - Stu Clark Project Director Rail Cycle Irvine Mountain lions In answer to Mike Pro of Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. regarding his letter in the April 2 Public Forum about the rejection of Proposition 197 by the voters: Pro tries to explain that the Department of Fish and Game needs to manage the ecosystem by eliminating many mountain lions. What Pro didn't tell you is that the National Rifle Association National Rifle Association (NRA) Governing organization for the sport of shooting with rifles and pistols. It was founded in Britain in 1860. The U.S. organization, formed in 1871, has a membership of some four million. Both the British and the U.S. spent over $100,000 trying to get Proposition 197 passed so that it would be open season for hunters to kill lions for trophies. In my opinion, a good way to start a civil or race war here in America is to be sure everyone has a gun ready to shoot. It certainly will make the gun and ammunition makers rich. - Byron Schmidt Pacoima `Immoral industry' The tobacco industry has been receiving a great deal of battering and it deserves every bit of it. This is the most deadly and immoral industry since the beginning of civilization. What is generally not recognized is that advertising campaigns have ben directed to children. True enough, the industry contends that smoking is an ``adult pleasure.'' But why do children start to smoke? It's because they want to act like adults. And they get hooked at an early age. Very few adults start smoking in adulthood. For over 30 years I have been appealing to children not to smoke. This involved in my talking to them in all school levels, consisting of hundreds of sessions. One technique I used was in putting a pacifier in my mouth emphasizing to them that smoking is ``kid stuff,'' a carry-over from suckling suckling In mammals, the drawing of milk into the mouth from the nipple of a mammary gland. In human beings, it is referred to as nursing or breast-feeding. The word also denotes an animal that has not yet been weaned—that is, whose access to milk has not yet been days which they did not outgrow outgrow verb To change the relationship with a condition or structure by dint of ↑ age or size; while children outgrow clothing, and certain behaviors, they rarely outgrow diseases–eg, asthma . - Alex Andres Woodland Hills Fritz Mettscher (``Smoking and choice,'' Public Forum, April 3) displays the typical socialist yuppie attitude so prevalent these days. The idea that ``freedom,'' and ``choice,'' is the right to force others to conform to one's personal likes and dislikes. While whining about some cigarette smoke, Mettscher conveniently fails to acknowledge the exhaust belching belching see eructation. from the tail pipe of his own car, something we must all breathe. Steve M. Holtz Sherman Oaks CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO CIGARETTES: WHERE THERE IS SMOKE, THERE IS CONTROVERS Y DAILY NEWS |
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