http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/opinion/letters/05022004.html

Three-tiered diploma system is a travesty

As described in last Sunday's News Journal, Delaware's 3-tiered diploma system is developing into a tragedy. However, most of the discussion has missed the root cause of the problem.

It is not students with poor attitudes or unqualified teachers that have brought us to this crisis. It is an absurd reliance on the single test - any single test - that has led us to the anxiety and discouragement that has been reported so often this spring. As is the case with all political conflicts, this one has (at least) two different "spins". The one favored by the legislators and the governor was summarized in the article as "poor achievement". An alternative which I find much more on target is "disrespect for teachers". One result of these strikingly different perceptions is that people end up talking past each other and not listening very well.

I have been a Biology professor at the University of Delaware for nearly 30 years. For about 10 of those years, I was the main supervisor for college students who were planning to become high school science teachers. As part of those duties, I visited and observed science classes in nearly every high school in the state. In the overwhelming majority of cases, I observed dedicated professionals doing their jobs and serving their students well.

I think that disrespect for the teaching profession is a major driving force behind the legislation that I see as so misguided. There is no other group of professionals I can think of whose members are so routinely insulted and blamed (dare we say "held accountable"?) for events that are beyond their control.

David Smith, Newark