Post by d204mom on Mar 24, 2008 10:14:08 GMT -6
Letters to the Editor
March 23, 2008
Parents, teachers make difference in education
Parents who want their children to go to Metea Valley on Brach-Brodie land rather than Waubonsie need to remember that it's the teachers and parents who make the difference in education - not the building or location.
The curriculum is the same across all District 204 high schools. The teachers and parents are the only variables across the schools. So, let's consider Neuqua as a model of what Metea can be and see if it's better than what Waubonsie will be with the new boundaries.
I have been disappointed by the young teaching staff at Neuqua. The curriculum in my children's honors and AP classes is exceptional, but many of the young teachers lack sufficient understanding of the material or experience in teaching to be fully effective. I find myself doing a lot of teaching at home and have talked with other parents voicing similar disappointment. Metea Valley, regardless of its location, will begin with a relatively younger teaching staff and similar shortcomings as Neuqua. Parents should value the more experienced staff their children will learn from at Waubonsie.
What makes Neuqua good now is not the quality of the teaching but the parents and students from neighborhoods feeding into it. Parents in these neighborhoods push their children to learn to their full potential. Under the proposed boundaries, Waubonsie will get a large fraction of the families who currently make Neuqua the school that it is. Combine that with a more experienced teaching staff at Waubonsie and you have an exceptional high school.
Bruce Onsager
Naperville
March 23, 2008
Parents, teachers make difference in education
Parents who want their children to go to Metea Valley on Brach-Brodie land rather than Waubonsie need to remember that it's the teachers and parents who make the difference in education - not the building or location.
The curriculum is the same across all District 204 high schools. The teachers and parents are the only variables across the schools. So, let's consider Neuqua as a model of what Metea can be and see if it's better than what Waubonsie will be with the new boundaries.
I have been disappointed by the young teaching staff at Neuqua. The curriculum in my children's honors and AP classes is exceptional, but many of the young teachers lack sufficient understanding of the material or experience in teaching to be fully effective. I find myself doing a lot of teaching at home and have talked with other parents voicing similar disappointment. Metea Valley, regardless of its location, will begin with a relatively younger teaching staff and similar shortcomings as Neuqua. Parents should value the more experienced staff their children will learn from at Waubonsie.
What makes Neuqua good now is not the quality of the teaching but the parents and students from neighborhoods feeding into it. Parents in these neighborhoods push their children to learn to their full potential. Under the proposed boundaries, Waubonsie will get a large fraction of the families who currently make Neuqua the school that it is. Combine that with a more experienced teaching staff at Waubonsie and you have an exceptional high school.
Bruce Onsager
Naperville