Teachers, administration: Get your act together
I am a 16-year-old Monta Vista High School student. I've lived in Cupertino for about 11 of my 16 years. Never in all that time have I seen as pathetic (and I don't mean that disrespectfully; I do hope this doesn't bring negative repercussions down on me next year, not that I think teachers are biased like that ... Oh dear, digging a deeper and deeper hole for myself ...) a spectacle as the one I am reading about in your paper every week right now. The Fremont Unified teachers and the district appear to be lurching toward all-out war. The only question I can ask is, "Why?"
I see room for the blame on both sides. For the math, I have no right to address that at all, as I know virtually nothing about the basis for the two sides' varying calculations. However, on other issues, well, that's a different story.
First let me complain about the teachers' attitude--something like, "The district is out to get us. The students would be out to get us if there were student surveys." Good grief, teachers are constructively criticizing students' work all the time. Are students so awful that they can't be expected to do the same? How are students supposed to learn how to critically think when they aren't given a clear opportunity even to make some comments, good or bad, about their teachers? If there is a misunderstanding between student and teacher, is that not a sign, then, that something is wrong? (Or have I misinterpreted the quote from Mr. Dawes that there's too much room for misunderstanding?).
And as for the district, oh please...Is it really that difficult to consult with the teachers before making a major curriculum change such as combining history and English classes? Again, there's that magic word, "flexibility," coming from the district. Is that just code for "laziness?"
Of course, you couldn't have expected better from a school board which unceremoniously and obnoxiously dumped its president halfway through last year for barely any reason whatsoever. But still ... If we here in prosperous, well-educated Cupertino can't conduct negotiations reasonably, who can? Can't we at least try to set a good example to the rest of the county?
At any rate, I hope both sides realize the ludicrousness of some of their complaints. I'm sure I voice the views of almost everyone (including the teachers and the districts) when I wish for a speedy end to negotiations. I also want desperately for negotiations to become more civil. And of course, I hope that, in the end, the district will still be fiscally stable; the teachers will have reasonable and comfortable salaries and benefits which fit the high costs in the Bay Area; and the students will get the quality education we deserve.
Jim Fung
Cupertino
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, June 19, 1996.
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