New certification process won't reflect teacher competence
The Jan. 8 article "State Gets D+ in Teacher Training" summarized a report released by Education Week that rated efforts to improve Pennsylvania teacher quality with a D+. Given recent actions of the state Board of Education, that grade may soon slip even lower.
The state board recently passed a resolution stating that any certified teacher who wishes to add other areas of certification may simply take the specialty examinations in those areas to add them to his teacher certifications. Is this the way the state board plans to meet the "No Child Left Behind" guidelines?
Teachers who are currently not qualified to teach in a particular grade or content area will suddenly be "qualified" if they pass a multiple choice test, with no professional preparation in that content or grade level, no demonstration of competence, nothing but a score on a standardized test. Teachers who have completed extensive course work and teacher preparation in a particular area, including demonstrated competence during at least 12 weeks of student teaching, will not be differentiated from those who just took the test.
The national teacher examinations have long been criticized for measuring only one kind of knowledge. Students need to be taught by teachers who have demonstrated competence in teaching the specialties and age levels on their teaching certificates -- not by teachers who are just good test takers.
ROBERTA L. SCHOMBURG
Professor and Chair
Division of Teacher Education
Carlow College
Oakland
Anti-freedom position
I was taken aback by the extreme anti-choice/anti-freedom sentiment exuding from the Jan. 17 editorial "Smoke Gets in Our Eyes."
The editorial states, "Pennsylvania ought to have one clear rule that doesn't make one establishment fear it will lose customers to another across a municipal border where the anti-smoking rules are more permissive."
What you're saying is: "We can't allow smokers to go to a place where they can smoke and dine at the same time." Reason? "We can't afford to lose smokers' business."
When the smokers just stop going to the establishments altogether, I'm sure you'll have no problem pushing for legislation to ban bagged lunches outdoors. (So long as the law applies only to smokers who used to eat at restaurants.)
I have to admit that I'd be all for the idea, if alcohol was the target of the legislation instead of cigarette smoking. However, I recognize that intolerance is not a good thing. So I'm prepared to put up with public intoxication and all the loud, obnoxious slobs who come with it, should I choose to patronize a restaurant that serves alcohol. (And don't tell me that being around drinkers can't kill you.)
Maybe if being a nonsmoker made it politically correct to be intolerant of any minority group, instead of just the smoking population, it would be worth quitting.
BILL CAMPBELL
Blawnox
Time for concessions
If it weren't for the salt truck drivers refusing to show up for work when they were desperately needed recently, and the resultant publicity because of it ("City Truck Drivers Spurning Overtime," Jan. 8), most residents of Pittsburgh probably would never have known that negotiations are now in progress between the city of Pittsburgh and the Teamsters Union.
Was this supposed to be another sneaky arrangement, like the firefighter giveaway orchestrated by Mayor Tom Murphy?
In light of our city's deepening financial crisis, I trust the negotiators for the city are seeking the substantial concessions the hard-pressed taxpayers are expecting from all the unions, as their contracts come up for renewal.
This also would be a very opportune time to remove the clause from the existing contract that forbids the privatization of city services, to a more cost-effective system.
If our elected officials aren't up to the task before them, like representing the taxpayers, then perhaps we can find people who are -- in the next election.
STEVEN GRADY
Carrick
A generous response
On Wednesday, Jan. 15, the Post-Gazette Local news section published an article headlined "No Coats to Give to Women in Need." On behalf of the board and staff of Lydia's Place, we would like to thank the people of Pittsburgh who so generously responded by bringing coats to our office for the women we serve.
The first coats began to arrive at 7:30 a.m. the same day the article appeared and continued to arrive until Friday evening. We now have enough coats to last for two winters!
Thanks to each and every one of you who braved the frigid temperatures and the Downtown traffic to help those in need. We also would like to thank Barbara White Stack of the Post-Gazette for writing such a compelling article.
JOANN CYGANOVICH
Executive Director
Lydia's Place
Downtown
Reduce oil consumption
There are some items in social-economic reality that probably need to be restated frequently because of their impact on society. For example:
The population of the United States is about 4.5 percent of the world's total population.
The estimated oil deposits of the United States are about 2.2 percent of the world's estimated oil deposits.
Every year for the last 25 years, the United States has consumed about 33 percent of the total global oil used in any given year.
The United States must therefore import about 70 percent of its oil needs every year. Without imports, the estimated oil deposits in Alaska, for example, would last about six months at existing usage rates.
About 67 percent of the world's oil is in the Middle East. About 30 percent is in Saudi Arabia alone. However, when price per barrel of oil is considered, the Middle East has about 80 percent of the world's cheap oil.
The only democracy in the Middle East is Israel. Israel has no oil.
One conclusion that could be drawn from these facts is that the United States would be wise to reduce consumption. A few suggested procedures to accomplish this are:
1. Eliminate all automatic transmissions in all new automobiles, vans, sport utility vehicles and light trucks. Estimated oil savings are 10 percent off total consumption.
2. Make all SUVs, vans and light trucks subject to CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) standards. Estimated savings are 5 percent.
3. Reduce maximum acceleration rates of all automobiles, SUVs, vans and light trucks to 3 mph per second. Estimated savings are 5 percent.
4. Re-institute the 55 mph speed limit nationally on all roads, turnpikes and thruways. Estimated fuel (oil) savings are 5 percent.
5. Encourage the use of mass transit by 20 percent of the nation's citizens who currently drive their private cars to work with only the driver in the vehicle. Estimated oil savings are 20 percent.
Employing these simple exercises would make for a total estimated reduction in oil consumption of about 45 percent.
JACK BRANNAN
Upper St. Clair
Editor's note: The writer is a retired transportation systems consultant.
Initials diminish honor
I am writing regarding the use of initials when referring to a person, such as in MLK Day. Seeing this surface in print and during media presentations for Martin Luther King Day was very upsetting.
A society is generally as lax as its language. I think the use of initials instead of a surname brings about a fall from the state of being regarded with honor. Self-identity is as important as freedom.
Martin Luther King Jr.'s name is synonymous with civil rights. Let us not confuse our children and future generations with an MLK or JFK.
We must continue the names to carry on the messages left by these important individuals.
RUTHIE BERRY
Swissvale
Skepticism is a key ingredient of an open mind
The Jan. 10 column by Anne Applebaum of The Washington Post, "Chatting With Little Green Men," was dead on. Claiming to have made a clone is not news. Anyone can make a claim; it's how you back it up that counts. That's called "skepticism," too often confused with "cynicism."
To be a skeptic means that before you'll believe in something, there has to be some proof. Why is this so hard for Americans? We buy magnetic bracelets to relieve pain, swallow homeopathic remedies so diluted that there's nothing in them and try to shove creationism into biology classes. If we applied a little skepticism, we'd see there's nothing backing these things up.
Ah, but I'll be accused of not having an "open mind." I say that the willingness to accept the possibility of new ideas is only half of an open mind. The other half is the willingness to reject ideas when you have reason to.
Any claim made with no supporting evidence has no reason for it to be believed. And if you do believe in things without bothering to see if there's any proof, you're at best naive, and at worst a sucker.
DAVID F. RAIKOW
Morningside
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