My wife and I read the comment from
”
Angry Parent
”
in your online commentary last week with great fascination and
interest.
Dear Editor,
My wife and I read the comment from “Angry Parent” in your online commentary last week with great fascination and interest. The parent stated that “It is not the teachers that make it the best, it is the parents that taught their children about how important education is.”
She also stated that her child’s teacher pointed this out to her and now she leaps to grand conclusions. If this logic is true, then it doesn’t matter where your child goes to school or who the teacher is, it only matters how highly educated the parents are.
This comment by “Angry Parent” is not only illogical, it is also very insulting to any parent who wants his/her child to succeed to a higher level than the parents. It also raises the question as to how can you possibly judge how good a teacher is when it’s all dependent on the “quality of the parent?”
If this is true, then “Angry Parent” will be unable to determine the quality of the teacher who gave her this bogus opinion because that teacher is dependent on the intelligence and education of “Angry Parent.” Teachers at any school, including Luigi Aprea, can spend up to 50-60 hours per week teaching, grading papers, preparing lessons, attending meeting with parents and faculty all in the interest of improving the child’s education. This work is done with limited resources, a variety of skill levels among students, and increased pressure from the state and federal government to bring test scores up.
If “Angry Parent’s” beliefs are to be true, then it wouldn’t matter what a teacher knows or what resources are available, only the education level of the parent would matter.
It’s ridiculous to think that children learn by osmosis and the teacher just sits around all day and does nothing while the learning flows freely into their heads. It’s a constant juggling act trying to teach each child what he/she needs at all the different levels. Every school has its own hurdles and problems.
In order for the classroom to work and for the learning to occur, the teacher at any school must put in numerous hours preparing for lessons and reviewing student work. It’s illogical to think that it doesn’t matter who is teaching. The teacher creates the classroom atmosphere, deals with parents and student needs which in the end is the most critical variable in a child’s education.
Let’s hope that by parents, teachers, and students working together that the education level of all children can rise to whatever the child is capable of achieving and that everyone can work hard, strive, and become whatever he/she wants to become in their lifetime. My wife and I have taught more than 45 years at Luigi Aprea/Brownell and have a good perspective on what goes on in a classroom each day. Parents are definitely important, but the level of their education is not as important as their desire for their child to succeed each day in school by helping the child at home with homework and supporting the teacher in the classroom.
Gregg and Stephanie Chisolm, Gilroy
The Golden Quill is awarded occasionally for a well-penned letter.
California Foreclosure Prevention Act should help homeowners
Dear Editor,
Please alert your readers to passage of SB 7, which was approved by the governor on Feb. 20 and becomes effective on May 20, named the “California Foreclosure Prevention Act.”
This new statute modifies existing California foreclosure law. Note that it does not prevent nonjudicial foreclosure; rather, it delays them, in certain circumstances, for an additional 90 days. Note, also, that the Act does not apply to all mortgages. It is limited to loans that were recorded between Jan. 1, 2003 and Jan. 1, 2008, on borrower-occupied dwellings as the borrower’s principal residence, if the mortgage is the first (senior) deed of trust on the property.
So, for example, non-owner occupied properties, e.g., income property, vacation property, is not covered by the Act. Also, if the loan is a junior (e.g., second mortgage), then the Act does not apply to the loan. If the loan was recorded before Jan. 1, 2003 or after Jan. 1, 2008, then the Act does not apply.
Additionally, the lender may apply for an exemption from the Act if the lender has established a loan modification program, as defined in the Act. Then, if the application is granted, the lender need not comply with the Act.
As always in debtor-creditor matters, a competent attorney should be consulted by both borrowers and lenders. Accepting the advice of persons who are not licensed to practice law is asking for more trouble than you already have.
Joe Thompson, past-president, Gilroy-Morgan Hill Bar Association
