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Parents, educators and older students agreed almost unanimously with our cover story that young children are being pushed too hard, too fast. Some pointed to recent legislation. "As a teacher, I'm frustrated by how we treat students in response to No Child Left Behind. As a parent, I'm outraged at the hubris of those who think of students as no more than cogs for their economic machine," one said. Others faulted pushy parents. A father of three wrote, "Today's teaching standards risk turning out a smart but really dull generation. Music, art, simple play--things that actually help make life interesting--are being swept up by a new industriousness that has less to do with the good of the child than the vanity of adults." A ninth grader was grateful that aggressive adults "haven't overrun our school system." And one mother chose "home-schooling that allows kids to unfold at their own pace and to learn to love learning."
I commend NEWSWEEK for asking whether young students are being pushed too hard scholastically ("Too Much Too Soon?" Sept. 11). As a father of four, I can provide a resounding "yes." After experiencing this trend in both public and private schools, my wife and I are considering home-schooling our children simply to prevent their natural motivation to learn and wonder from being stolen from them. Families must stand up and advocate for our children. All the blame can't be put on No Child Left Behind legislation. I fear that if the tide doesn't turn, childhood itself may be what is left behind.
Sean Durham
Read More on News
Baton Rouge, La.
Good grief! It wasn't important that I was reading when I was 5, but that I was being read to. Now, less than a year from my Ph.D. in biology, it certainly doesn't matter that in fourth grade I wasn't "succeeding" and was ultimately sent to a math tutor for help with fractions. Students need to learn first how to learn, and that learning is not only rewarding but something that can be pursued through life. I promise if they love to learn, they'll learn to read. And figure out fractions, too!
Bronwyn Heather Bleakley
Ellettsville, Ind.
I'm a first-grade teacher in my seventh year in Los Angeles. I choose to teach in an urban, low-income, minority school because I was once one of the students I now teach with all my heart. However, I am saddened to see what public education has become. I had inspiring teachers in more than 12 years of public school who led me to a degree from Yale with a minor in education. Your article was right on target in voicing the heartfelt sentiments of teachers in the trenches. We need to redirect our nation's education policy to a saner, more balanced approach, and we need to remember that first graders are still developing and learning to love school.
Chantel Mendivil
Los Angeles, Calif.
The question of too much too soon illustrates what happens when politicians try to fix something they know little about. The No Child Left Behind legislation assumes it is possible to codify the educational process and make students and teachers tow the mark. Wasn't the generation now pushing overregulated schools the same one that got us to the moon and heralded the technorevolution of our modern era? Why would these folks deem it necessary to rewrite the process that fueled such marvelous achievements?
Lawrence D. Cullen
Buxton, N.C.
On the fifth day of school, when we still hardly know each other, my first-grade students begin their first round of literacy assessments. We have pre- and post-tests, subtopic and topic exams, and Roadmap for Learning tests every six weeks to ensure we're on the same page districtwide. Making room for this testing has taken away the valuable, creative and fun projects that got me nominated and selected as Teacher of the Year. Now those projects are viewed as "fluff" we no longer have time for. My former students know it's the fluff that taught them so many valuable skills.
Diane Cimino
Berlin, Conn.
As the director of a nursery school, I am only too aware that kindergarten is the new first grade. Often, our children will interview for kindergarten, and the admissions director will report back--with obvious derision--that the child isn't even reading yet. What happened to our job to teach children how to socialize and be members of a group? Pretty soon our 2-year-olds will be expected to know letter sounds! What's next? Teaching 9-year-olds to drive? What's the hurry?
Wendy F. Levey
New York, N.Y.
"The New Naysayers" (Sept. 11) was the most thought-provoking piece on religion and culture I've come across in a long time. While I didn't agree with every argument presented by the modern scholars who view atheism as a smarter approach, there was no avoiding the way their words kept forcing me to question elements of my faith. This is what great writing should do. After all, how can we grow if we don't continue questioning the things we've been led to believe?
Corey Schubert
Rockledge, Fla.
In the 1988 campaign, the first George Bush was quoted saying, "No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered as patriots." Imagine if that had been applied to Jews, African-Americans or any other group. In an age of increasing diversity and tolerance, atheists seem to be the only minority left that Americans can openly despise with impunity. If Richard Dawkins needs to get to know a few ordinary believers, shouldn't believers also get to know a few ordinary atheists?
Karen Hwang
Watchung, N.J.
It's interesting that people blame religion for the violence in the world. I tend to blame good old-fashioned greed, pride, jealousy and hatred. It seems that our species just hasn't been able to kick these traits through natural selection. In fact, our atheist friends have had quite the track record when in political power. The regimes of Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot are responsible for the most brutal human-rights abuses in our history, as well as murdering and terrorizing millions. I'm not quite sure how all this helped preserve the gene pool, but I am willing to keep an open mind.
Andy Searle
Mundelein, Ill.
At the tender age of eleven i thought long and hard about the religion I'd grown up in and eventually became an atheist. Even so young I realized most people believe what they believe because it's what their parents taught them. I would say that religion is responsible for at least as many heinous acts as munificent ones. Consequently, I'd rather be at the mercy of an atheist than someone who believed in a different god. I am fond of this bumper-sticker quote: "When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."
Marc-Paul Lee
Evanston, Ill.
I was insulted that Jerry Adler ended his article by saying believers can take comfort in knowing atheism "barely amounts to a movement." Atheists aren't blowing up abortion clinics or stating that gays should be executed. We have done nothing to deserve the reputation we have.
Charles Kressbach
Mt. Pleasant, Mich.
Both the faithful and the atheists need to keep in mind the difference between belief and certainty. It is possible to believe there is a God or that no deity exists, but this is not the same as being certain. There is much about the origin and scope of the universe that we may never know for certain. I have no problem with any religion as long as it remains about belief rather than absolute certainty. Belief is compatible with respect and tolerance for other beliefs. Certainty is an arrogance that leads to intolerance, disrespect and, all too often, terror and war.
Ray Sachs
West Chester, Pa.
I'd like to offer my praise to Fareed Zakaria for his levelheaded and honest evaluation of the threat presented by Iran ("The Year of Living Fearfully," Sept. 11). Without using extremist language or rhetoric, Zakaria points out that, rather than being an immediate military threat like Nazi Germany was, Iran is most dangerous because, like the former Soviet Union, its radical ideology and growing influence can help fuel and finance terrorist groups and upstart tyrannies across the world. As we've seen with Hizbullah, Iran likes to employ others to do its dirty work.
Andrew Valencia
Dinuba, Calif.
The insightful Fareed Zakaria misses the importance of nuclear weapons when he says, "Saddam, we were assured in 2003, had nuclear weapons." In fact, in 2003 we were assured he had poison gas, aluminum tubes and ambition. George Bush's initial use of the term "weapons of mass destruction" grouped nuclear weapons with mustard gas, creating a level of societal confusion so widespread that even Zakaria uses the term nuclear weapons as if it were synonymous with weapons of mass destruction. Iran is not Iraq. Tehran has an operational nuclear program, not just ambition and tubing. We must not confuse nuclear weapons with mustard gas. And we can't confuse the danger posed by a despicable Saddam Hussein on one hand and nuclear Iran on the other.
Brad Sherman
Ranking Democrat, House Subcommittee on
International Terrorism and Nonproliferation
Washington, D.C.
Your depiction of Donald Rumsfeld's address to the American Legion is inaccurate. On the perspectives page and in "The 'Islamofascists' " (Sept. 11) you misrepresent his remarks as having "compared critics of the administration to those who sought to appease Hitler in the buildup to World War II." Rumsfeld did not say that. In fact, he never mentioned any critics of the Iraq war in his remarks. Instead, Rumsfeld's remarks were an effort to remind people of the similarities between past and current periods in U.S. history. He warned against a mentality of dismissing real and gathering threats while focusing nearly exclusively on American imperfections--a mentality that could undermine our nation's ability to prevail in what will be a long and difficult struggle against violent extremists. We invite readers to view the full text of the remarks at defenselink.mil/speeches.
Dorrance Smith
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs
Washington, D.C.
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