Followup: Don’t Flee Public Schools: Get Involved

This is in response to the June 21 Community Essay by Sonja-Lynn Jacob (“Suellen Just Wants to Learn to Read.”) I have both commendations and regrets.

I would like to commend Jacob for raising a child who came to school “ready to learn”. Unfortunately, this level of readiness seems to be less and less common common in our society today.

Jacob also deserves commendation for listening to her child and for discussing school each day. We all benefit from truly listening to others. Discussing school with our children each day shows them the importance we place in their education.

While I believe Jacob should be commended for taking action on the flaws she perceived in her child’s education, I regret the choice she made. Personally, I agree with the importance of smaller classes and support the inclusion of reading in preschool and kindergarten curricula, especially when the individual student requests it. However, neither curricular content nor instruction is the issue I wish to discuss.

Jacob said that she talked with the teacher, as is appropriate. However, did she take her questions to the principal? Did she use her eloquence on school improvement plan meetings, curriculum committees, the superintendent, or the school board?

She wrote, “Why the school’s parents did not rebel is a mystery.” Sadly, it will remain a mystery to the bulk of that school’s parents if those with the talents of Jacob choose to run away rather than take a stand, lobby and educate when and where they encounter faults. Flyers to Suellen’s former classmates’ parents or a speech at the school board could have worked wonders for all the students in Suellen’s former class. Maybe they could all be reading Dr. Seuss by now.

The tragedy of Suellen’s education is in all the other public school students who will miss knowing her, miss seeing her motivation to read and miss all she could teach them. There is also tragedy for all the other public school families who will miss what Jacob could have given them, what she could have shown them, what she could have done for Suellen’s school and for our society as an active participant and leader in public school education. I fear now, feeling that her daughter’s precious education is in the capable hands of others, that we have lost yet another potential leader for public school education.

Jacob also wrote that the voucher system “would force the public schools to concern themselves with results, to listen to parents and to teach children.” Again, I commend the goals, but regret the method. The voucher system Californians will vote on this year will destroy public school education if enacted. This brief article is not the place to fully discuss the voucher initiative and how students of poverty and students with special needs will be further segregated or how already limited resources will be further weakened. Let me only say that I will actively lobby against it with my friends, in my community, in every forum I can find, and in the voting booth.

I would like to encourage Jacob and others who find faults in our public schools to become truly actively involved. Write to board members, attend school board meetings, question board candidates, run for office, propose and support appropriate bond issues, join and participate in PTSA’s, join and participate in site councils, talk to other families; not just once or twice, but repeatedly until our goals are achieved.

We must not run away and hide; our society’s strength has always been in the talents of individuals like Sonja-Lynn Jacob and the potential of our Suellens. Giving Suellen, or Chelsea, private schools does not help our greater society. I believe we must all accept responsibility for our public schools while doggedly working for responsiveness and improvement.