This is very well expressed. There is some material that people need to know, not obscure material but math facts and basic English skills and how many inches in a foot and feet in a yard, etc.
I remember grocery shopping with my mother when I was a child before electronic cash registers. The bill was $13.27. My mother gave the cashier $15.02 and the clerk had no clue how to compute the change ($1.75). There is not always a computer or calculator. Some things should be known. Barbara ________________________________ From: Lincoln <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> on behalf of Debra Daugherty <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2022 11:07:27 AM To: Listserv Listserv <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Subject: [LincolnTalk] Lincoln School Committee candidates Hi all, I was quite dismayed by some of the notions expressed by the candidates for Lincoln School Committee during the candidate forum. The Lincoln Squirrel provided the following: "Kim Rajdev implied that the goals of AIDE are not well served by having children grouped by ability. “It really pains me when I hear a very young child say ‘I’m not good at math’,” she said. The schools need to “move away from content and more toward adaptability and teamwork skills… thinking on our feet.” and "Dwyer echoed Rajdev’s sentiment. “What students specifically learn today will be irrelevant as a flip phone 20 years from now."" Uh oh. Content is precisely what I want our schools to teach. Knowledge does matter and, no, it won't be irrelevant years from now. (That very notion is bizarre. How will math, history, or literature be irrelevant in 20 years?) Mr. Dwyer opened his presentation during the forum by mentioning the low ranking of Lincoln's school system and his concern over the departure of Lincoln students for private school programs. I would argue that content is a primary driving force behind that migration. It's certainly why I send my kids to private math programs after school. And with regard to students saying "I'm not good at math: It is not clear to me those students would stop saying "I'm not good at math" if they were grouped together with kids that are exceptionally quick or advanced in math. It's also not fair to require the kids that are quick at math to do work that is unchallenging. I'm hoping these impressions of the attitudes of the candidates are somehow incorrect. --Debra Daugherty
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