When we are reminded that our schools are failing or “ineffective” (Robert Samuelson’s adjective in his Feb. 24 column), the strong implication is that schools and teachers themselves are to blame.

Not so fast. Many considerations come into play, and let me mention just a couple of cultural factors that have adverse influence, particularly in recent times. Each plays a role in making the educating of pupils more difficult than before.

One is parental word usage, or lack thereof, during children’s earliest years, prior to coming of school age. Some parents, in raising their child, use the same words repeatedly in attempts at changing unwanted behavior, with no effective, sterner plan if unsuccessful. The redundancy renders the impact of words essentially meaningless. By contrast, some employ words too sparingly, depriving the child of getting significant exposure — and the opportunity to react — to word-driven stimuli.

Once the child begins attending school, he is in for a surprise. Teachers’ words, of course, do have significance — for him, for all. Teacher directives, whether intended for learning or classroom management, are often met with resistance, creating distractions which can affect everyone.

The other factor is that our culture has been traveling widening paths of nonchalance, forgetfulness, indifference, foolishness and carelessness. Those trends have penetrated many parts of society, becoming acceptable to many. Unfortunately, the effects challenge the structure needed for a good classroom. Seriousness is still a requisite for genuine teacher educating and student processing.

Norm Gellatly, Auburn

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