DEAR EDITOR
Dear Editor The New Leader welcomes comment and criticism on any of its features, but letters should not exceed 300 words. Minority Stockholder? Nathan Lewin's thought-provoking review of Alan...
...If they can't visit, they can always write: An exchange of letters is a fruitful way to develop an educational partnership...
...We must begin our efforts to help youngsters before they are trapped in a persistent, irreversible pattern of failure...
...By the 7th grade students who have always failed begin to believe that is their destiny...
...We should not allow ourselves to be paralyzed by an excessive concern for the preservation of their "rights...
...Now that I've read it, I must say that, Lewin's contention to the contrary notwithstanding, I think the self-confidence Dershowitz is urging Jews in this country to assert is something quite different from the posture of members of "the Orthodox [Jewish] community...
...Schorr thinks that Alex Kotlowitz' book...
...Goethe once observed that "One has to be something in order to do something...
...There are depraved children who do not belong in a normal classroom situation...
...Chicago, Ill...
...Itaughtfor31 years (1955-S6) in six New York City public schools, and 1 never realized that I and my colleagues were leading our students on a trajectory toward hell...
...Yes, the hard data are not very encouraging...
...A rejection of that concept—by every American citizen—seems to me precisely what Dershowitz' book is all about...
...Where is the public wiil to change things...
...Since Palestine includes Jordan, all Jordanians are Palestinian...
...These giant leeches do not hesitate to deprive their classmates of the "right" to learn, and teachers of the "right" to teach...
...Nathan Lewin's thought-provoking review of Alan M. Dershowitz' Chutzpah ("Confronting the Jewish Identity Crisis," NL, May 20), moved me to buy the book...
...There Are No Children Here, "should raise the chances of massive social action...
...I do agree with Lewin, though, that the success Jews have had in overcoming discrimination is "not a consequence of militancy, but of unquestionable quality...
...The teacher also has to be an educated person...
...In the East Harlem school where I spent my last 21 years (P.S...
...When one is "in" a subject the enthusiasm becomes contagious...
...What 1 find utterly perplexing is Lewin's faulting Dershowitz for not recognizing that the American Jew is a "minority stockholder" in the United States...
...Moreover, 52 per cent of those diplomas were granted at only 10 of the city's 120 high schools...
...all ameliorative efforts amount to nothing more than what the poet William Blake characterized as "sand against the wind...
...Third, the school administration must cooperate in furthering instruction...
...Jordan may not have violated sanctions against Iraq when Kirk wrote, but the Washington-based American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) now finds that Jordan has traded weapons for Iraqi oil...
...Robert Caplan Seen from the Classroom I was "left with a feeling of unbearable sadness" when I read that Lisbeth B. Schorr ("Life at the Bottom," NL, May 20) believes the public school "has now become one more force propelling inner city youngsters toward destruction...
...who have enough self-assurance to remain distinctive in American society...
...Unfortunately, some principals spend more time checking up on the teaching staff than providing good materials and flexible scheduling...
...We also should not stretch tolerance to absurd lengths...
...Along with free elections, democracy requires tolerance and stability, and Kirk shows that both are alien to Jordan's burgeoning fundamentalist movement...
...146 M) the administration and teachers have now initiated, in cooperation with a major hospital, a combined program of exercise and nutrition...
...Individuals may be deeply affected, but "massive social action...
...Even the very best forms of remediation are powerless to combat this gut feeling...
...As Jacques Barzun once quipped, education cannot be administered "to the passive beneficiary like a vaccination...
...Bronxville, New York Melvtn L. Rogers The Jordan Factor Donald Kirk wisely presented "Jordan Inches Toward Democracy" (NL, May 6) more as a Western hope than an Eastern probability...
...At home children may eat some nonnutritious food, they may buy junk food with their spare change, but at this school the children are made aware of good health practices...
...A teacher's knowledge and skill are not felt by students unless he or she is excited about what is being taught...
...In any case, I would think that Kirk might want to re-evaluate his view that Jordan is not a direct threat to Israel—considering that Jordan has invaded Israel twice, its King has lamented not invading again, it is aiming more missiles toward Israel, and it has arranged to let Iraqi forces through in the event of another war...
...As King Hussein and Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasir Arafat maintain, too, Palestinian Arabs are part of the Arab nation, not a separate one...
...Second, the students must be motivated to respect that kind of teacher and to learn...
...First, we need educators who know and are able to communicate their subjects...
...The problems that exist are already well known...
...In 1989 only 6,650 high school graduates out of 35,000 in New York City earned State Regents-endorsed diplomas...
...New York City Richard H. Shulman...
...Schorr, the public schools— with all their imperfections—try to resist those "disastrous effects of hostile environments on the development of youngsters...
...If they work, then they can visit the teacher before the school day begins...
...On the contrary, Ms...
...And how does Kirk calculate that "60 per cent" of Jordanians are Palestinian...
...Four elements must come into play if students are to have a fighting chance to succeed in school...
...Finally, the parent or parents must keep tabs on what is taking place in the classroom...
Vol. 74 • August 1991 • No. 9
