School Views Outlined

Merrylin "Terry" Martin, vice president elect of the Huron High School Parent Teacher Organization, has announced her candidacy for school board. In a statement of her position, Mrs. Martin said: "My association with the Ann Arbor Schools spans inore than two decades and I should either be numbed by, or resigned to, the state of education in this área. I am, however, as interested in education for my fourth child as I was for my first and I find the deterioration in the quality of education deplorable. Consequently, I have devoted untold hours, delving into the intricacies and seeking solutions to the educational crisis. "Ann Arbor schools, generously supported by the public, were once considered superior on a national level. Revolutionary approaches and much heralded changes have increased costs and shaken up the system while producing medicore levéis of achievement. "While we have, and should make an honest effort to provide equity of opportunity, it has become obvious that the focus of attention has been directed at the non-motivated and sometimes disruptive child. This emphasis on the under-achieving youngster at the expense of the motivated student has not been beneficial to either. "All children must be encouraged to perform to the highest level of their abilities and we must continue to stimulate the under-achievèr, but we must make certain that the eager and enthususiastic youngster is also challenged and not turned off by the system. Is it possible that our schools have become so inflexible that we cannot balance the needs of all students? "It is time now to put our educational and financial priorities in order. Perhaps now is the moment to examine the social rhetoric of the day and to separate the salient words from the trite. The sophisticated verbiage of past years, such as meaningful, relevant and humane, are valuable. But words which are overused and abused become shallow clichés and perhaps the "in" words should include empathy, responsibility and credibility. "Possiblythe emphasis in! education should again be directed toward providing the tools of learning. It is not realistic to expect our schools to produce literate adults who have been deprived of basic skills such as reading and writing. "Rapping" may improve: communication bet ween! teacher and student but without some knowledge of past and present, can produce only meaningless words which genérate confusión. "Imaginative teaching is the key to stimulating young minds, but possibly an import a n t purpose of education should also be to teach our young people how to handle the frustrations of learning. Some a s p e c t s of life and schooling are routine and require great self-discipline. Is it basically honest to mislead our young people into believing that their adult life will be