To the editor
I wish to respond to the letter printed March 13 drafted by my fellow Manville citizen, Eleanor Pschar. I do wish to apologize for the delay in responding; however I felt it best to allow time to temper my response.
I, like Ms. Pschar, am frustrated with the presented status of our neighborhood schools. I am delighted that Ms. Pschar has attempted to raise our communal awareness to the problems she has identified.
However, I must strongly disagree with Ms. Pschar, and I submit to her that her attack on our wonderful teachers is simply misplaced frustration.
I have read Ms. Pschar’s editorial comments again this evening, and as I look at her identified concerns, one word comes to mind parents.
While I know that in today’s society no one wishes to look into the mirror when seeking casual factors for any problem, it is so much easier to point blame towards others, often unjustifiable so.
Ms. Pschar, when children do not attend school, who should be addressing that fact? The child’s parents. When children decide to drop out of school, it is unfortunately often with the approval of the child’s parents; when our SAT scores are lower than we would like to see, one must wonder how much emphasis the child’s parents are placing on the child’s education at home; if we are experiencing what you perceive to be excessive suspensions, I would again say that the child’s parents are not providing the appropriate family social teachings (courtesy, respect, responsibility, honesty, and tolerance).
Lastly, I wish to comment on the fact that our neighborhood has passed one school budget in the last decade. Who gets to vote on whether or not education is important to our community? The child’s parent. Who is it that has the ability to provide the resources for our children to learn? The child’s parents.
Whose responsibility is it that our school system is not producing to the level we would like? We, the children’s parents, those citizens with the ability to provide the means. Ms. Pschar I have always voted yes to each of our school budgets.
I vote yes so that your children (or grandchildren) get the best education we can give them.
Your children are important to me; I hope that my children are important to you. Yes ma’am, our teachers are doing a tremendous job with what we have given them.
Let’s let the blame lay where it belongs, in our hands. The good news here, together we can all make a change.
I say let’s do it.
White Avenue