Regarding “Schools must repeat a grade for students with poor reading skills” (May 17): Of course, reading is very important. If you can't read and understand, all subjects will be difficult. As a math teacher, my job was to teach algebra to students who couldn't do the basic math that they were supposed to learn in elementary school.
However, most students move from elementary school to high school without mastering the necessary subjects. Discipline has to start somewhere in our education system, and unfortunately, it doesn't. Students pay the price, and so does our country.
— Alen Stanko, Alpine
Mitch Daniels, the author of this work, is a relic of a bygone era. Holding kids back is not the solution to improving basic K-12 skills. What Daniels, and many others who hold deep-rooted misconceptions about education, miss is that there are levels of development to be addressed. He is completely wrong about reading fluency beginning in 4th grade. Reading fluency must begin at the end of kindergarten.
Also missing is an argument that upends the educational paradigm that has been established since at least the end of World War II. In order to speak as concisely as possible, a child should master the basics of phonological awareness before starting her first grade. As children progress through the elementary school grades, their learning progression becomes increasingly geometric. At a minimum, student assistants (additional teachers) should be hired to cover gaps in children's reading comprehension.
— John H. Borja, Chula Vista
