If You Truly Wish to Help, You Must Experience Teaching For Yourself

For the past few weeks there have been letters appearing in the paper regarding the Education Roundtable and their “UMass Dartmouth Urban Initiative White Paper.” The report is an “Analysis of MCAS Performance.” I have read their report, listened to their presentation at the School Committee meeting, and read the letters appearing in the paper the last of which was “Roundtable just trying to help.” Presently the Education Roundtable is in the process of preparing their next report dealing with the New Bedford Public Schools.

Here are a few issues for the members of the Education Roundtable:
1. How do you plan on increasing the MCAS scores and making students strive to attain their highest achievement level, go to school on a daily basis, get to school on time, stop cutting classes, pay attention in class, do their homework, come prepared for class, study for tests, complete all assignments, and, if they need it, seek extra help after school? Everyday teachers in our schools are academically preparing students to become successful in life and helping them when they have difficulty understanding concepts. Today there are more services in place to assist students who are having learning and social problems than there were 30 plus years ago.

2. How do you plan on getting the parents fully involved in the education of their child’s? What ideas do you have for the parents to instill the importance of getting a high school diploma and for their child(ren) to study and finish school?


3. MCAS: according to the “Urban Initiative White Paper” page 5 states: “…the district also experienced an increase of over 25 percent in the number of ‘special education’ students it serves.” Every student must take and pass MCAS in order to receive a high school diploma. Some of the students in the special education classes need to have the MCAS test read to them. If a student can not read, how do you expect that child to pass MCAS? Some of these students who are in high school are doing simple math—addition and subtraction. Once again, how would one expect them to pass the math portion of MCAS which deals with higher level math?

4. Dropout: I think the issue of the dropout rate has been discussed for 50 plus years. How many times have we read or heard about the increase in the dropout rate? For decades many of our political candidates and elected officials have stated that they will address this issue, and today, we are still speaking about it. Nothing has happened. What is the dropout rate in 2010 compared to 2000, 1990, 1980, 1970, etc.? No one ever mentions the percentages for those years compared to today.

5. To the members of the Education Roundtable, if you truly wish to help, you must, in my opinion, experience teaching for yourself. Try teaching in your discipline for one week in the New Bedford Public Schools. Get into the classroom, prepare lessons, make up worksheets and tests, correct and grade all assignments, and deal with the many different learning styles and personalities. This experience, in my opinion, will give you a better insight in preparing your next report.


Carol Strupczewski
Retired New Bedford High School Teacher