I must take issue with one point in Frederick R. Bedell Jr.’s letter entitled “Go Rudy, Go.” I agree that many positive achievements were made in our city during Rudolph Giuliani’s mayoral terms. Items such as the graffiti problem, which seems to get worse every day (a topic I was pleased to see addressed in an editorial in the same issue), do have me missing that era. However, I must correct one of Mr. Bedell’s statements. It was not Rudy Giuliani who “worked tirelessly to bring down crime,” rather the men and women of the New York City Police Department. That statement was written, in my opinion, in true Rudy Giuliani fashion, with no positive credit given to anyone but Giuliani himself.
Margaret Mahon
Flushing
On High-Stakes Testing
I Recently Assemblymember Mark Weprin wrote an op-ed letter expressing his opposition to “burdensome high-stakes testing,” stating that “tests have become a plague on the learning environment.” Weprin went on to note that these tests are “frustrating, energy-sapping, expensive and fruitless” and cited “intensive pressure to achieve high scores.” Weprin noted he was the father of two children in public school and felt strongly that too much time is expended on test preparation and that our public school “teachers are dedicated and do not need frequent statewide tests to judge their students progress.”
As the father of two young children, who attend public schools myself and the husband of a dedicated educator who works in the public school system, I can certainly relate both to Weprin’s angst over the pressures of testing as well as his apparent respect for the commitment and professionalism of the vast majority of public school teachers, principals and other public school professionals.
This said, Weprin’s policy prescription is shortsighted and ill-conceived. My 12-year-old absolutely agrees with his stance regarding testing and I expect most of us did at that age. However, one does not need to be an adult to recognize that standardized tests must remain an integral part of the educaiton of our children. How else are we to assess the relative needs of our children in terms of whether they are learning the material imparted to them by our hardworking teachers throughout the school year?.
In the past decade or so we have all heard about the education theories of the moment that deemphasize the pedagogical approaches of yesteryear that we know actually worked. You know, the ones used on our parents and grandparents and the greatest generation all the way up to and a little bit past the boomers.
Those time-tested teaching methods emphasized actual learning rather than disembodied self-esteem, spelling instead of new spelling, math instead of new math, phonics and subject knowledge rather than whole language studies.
The notion was that we actually had to prepare our children for higher education and the workforce and provide them with the tools to succeed, compete, excel and survive. Then when they are actually tested by the realities, obstacles and challenges of life in the real world that often can be so “frustrating, energy-sapping, expensive and fruitless” they have the wherewithal to deal with the “intensive pressure” and do us proud - not just as parents but as a society.
Vincent J. Tabone, Esq.
Bayside
Politics As Usual
Millions of voters from Queens County and New York State were disenfranchised in the selection of a replacement candidate for the recently indicted NYS Comptroller Alan Hevesi. How disappointing that the 212 members of the New York State Legislature selected one of their own Albany-insider-career-politicians - New York State Assemblymember Tom DiNapoli who will maintain the status quo.
Why not amend the State Constitution to allow the Governor the right to call for a Special Election in the event a vacancy occurs for the Office of State Comptroller or State Attorney General just as he can already do when a seat in the State Legislature becomes vacant. This will afford the voters the right to choose rather than the legislature selecting one of their own as a replacement.
Larry Penner
Great Neck
Let’s Ban The “H” Word Too
I In the February 14 issue was an article “Banning the N-word,” referring to an offensive racial term.
May I state that racism and derogatory terms come from all sources. Jesse Jackson stated proudly that when working as a waiter he would spit into the plates of white customers. Charles Barkley said he hates whites, Al Sharpton points to “white interlopers” owning businesses in black neighborhoods, and Thurgood Marshall said, “Now it’s our turn to discriminate.”
Two wrongs don’t make a right, and racism is racism regardless of where it comes from. How about a law to end the ‘H’ word - ‘H’ for honky?
J. Ahearn
Ozone Park
Don’t Drink And Drive
All ages need a designated driver when they go out partying. Someone at Congressmember Crowley’s party should have noticed that his former employee Gillespie was in no condition to drive and seen to it that she and her friend would be taken home. If that had been done, she would not have been injured and her friend would be alive today.
Learn a lesson - don’t drink or drive. Better yet, enjoy yourself without drinking or do it at home.
Evelyn Zorovich
Flushing
