U Student Seeks School Post

Mrs. Kay E. McCangar, a gradúate student in the University School of Educaition, today announced her candidacy for the Ann Arbor Board of Education. Mrs. McCargar, who lives at 611 W. Liberty, issued the following statement: "I have lived in Ann Arbor for five years. I have student teaching experience and substitute teaching experience (in the Ann Arbor Public Schools, and am a certified teacher. I am 22 years old and married. "The educational establishment in Ann Arbor and across the country has fallen into the habit of thinking that more money can buy better education. Last week voters reacted to that philosophy by turning down school millages everywhere; they feit that their kids were not getting a good enough education to merit the high property taxes they are paying." "It is true, of course, that there are school costs that rise every year with the cost of living and that more money can indeed buy more and better teaching aide-type equipment. It is also true, however, that there are kids graduating from Ann Arbor high schools who are severely limited in the types of jobs they can get because they lack competence in basic skills. (And there are kids in the same position who never gradúate.) "I propose two types of action to deal with the problems of rising costs and inadequate learning: "The first is that the Board of Education should begin to organize a state-wide campaign, or join with other school boards to put pressure on the state legislature for reform of the funding methods for schools. "The current method of property tax is forcing many people, especially the older citizens and those who are on a limited income, to vote against millages in order to survive . . . The reform needed is an amendment to the state constitution whïch would allow the levying of a graduated state income tax so that low-income taxpayers are not forced to pay a greater percentage of their income to support the schools . . . "The second type of action can be taken within the school system. Inadequate learning has been thought to be a function of intelligence for many years. Kids failed in school if they were dumb or lazy, people used to think. More recently it has become the aecepted view that the teachers and the school system contribute to failure and that they should be held accountable for the learning that takes place (or does not take place) in the schools. "Individualized instruction has become the pass-word for those who feel the need to increase the amount of learning taking place. However, nobody helps the teacher deal with the problems involved in the new approach; the system does nothing to encourage open classroom situations. Within the ture of the school system it is difficult to develop innovative techniques- so teachers either stick with the old methods or ignore the requirements. "As a flrst step in helping teachers, I propose the elimination of an evaluation procedure that makes failure necessary. Students need not feel that they are doing excellent, good, average, or poor work in school. Failure and the fear of it is what turns kids off from learning . . . Evaluation in a classroom situation where not everyone is expected to be doing the same thing at the same time, and progressing at the same speed, can be on an individual scale in terms of what the student needs to master next. "The other thing that turns kids off to school is being forced to learn something they are not interested in. Interest is increased tremendously when kids are allowed to make some of the decisions about their own learning. In order to allow student participation, however, teachers must be allowed some flexibility in the curriculum. They can be encouraged and helped by being presented a set of options within any subject rather than a rule about what exactly must be taught. "I fully support the Humaneness in Education Report, emphasizing in particular the need for student and parent participation in decisions about the schools and the need for "detracking" the schools . . . Tracking students according to ability insures the success of kids from middle and high income families and the failure of kids from low income families."