Dear Editor,
Are the majority of letters to the editor in the Gilroy Dispatch
Opinion page critical of the Gilroy School District’s educational
system?
I guess the Gilroy School system does have its problems, but
what business does not have problems.
Dear Editor,
Are the majority of letters to the editor in the Gilroy Dispatch Opinion page critical of the Gilroy School District’s educational system?
I guess the Gilroy School system does have its problems, but what business does not have problems. To better judge the Gilroy Schools, especially the 7th , 8th and 9th grade schedule let me relate my educational experience in those grades i.e. junior high.
I went to school in the Midwest in the mid 1930s at the height of the depression. Our curriculum was as follows. In grade school first through sixth, each grade spent the whole day in one classroom, with one teacher who taught all subjects. In junior high we had a “homeroom” as our base and students rotated through various classrooms taught by different teachers for different subjects such as English, history, algebra, and shop classes.
For boys, classes were wood shop (I made a sail boat), machine shop (I ran a metal lathe), sheet metal (I made a metal mail box), electricity (I learned to soder wire splices), printing (I set type for using the printing press (now obsolete) and mechanical drawing (a universal language).
The girls had the equivalent in cooking, home making/business and sewing. Our homeroom teacher was a counselor, an academic guide, and disciplinarian. We were evaluated as to wether to follow an academic course (college bound) or a vocational (for the trades). Each teacher in each subject graded us individually. An A garnered 3 grade points, a B 2 points, a C 1 grade point and D zero points and an F = minus one point.
Each report card evaluation we totaled up our grade points and then we were seated in the classroom according to our ranking.
The classroom had five rows of six seats each and the student with the highest grade point average sat in the #1 seat in the first row. The rest of us sat in various seats in other rows depending upon our grade point average. We students well knew some kids are smarter than others. We admired the top students; they had earned their choice seating. We, sitting in the lower ranked seat did not have our ego traumatized or our self-esteem depressed. Our rank in class foretold what life would be like when we grew up.
Our teachers were excellent and I am sure Gilroy teachers are just as good. True, teachers are a key factor, as are the parents, in a child’s education. However, even a great teacher can be seriously handicapped by a flawed school’s master plan. The prominence of critical letters to the editor and columnist critiques suggest all is not too well in the Gilroy School system. The recognition that all is not well is the first and most critical step toward correcting the situation.
Our future depends upon an improvement. Then, and only then will those critical letters to the editor of The Dispatch cease.
J. G. McCormack, Gilroy
