Helen Ming, West Windsor
I attended the West Windsor-Plainsbor Board of Education meeting on Nov 17. It’s an amazing experience. People whose kids are mostly not in the school district were fighting against parents of local school kids. Our superintendent, the representative of the former, promoted the “whole child“ concept and cited “stress“ as an excuse to eliminate an advanced math program. Parents expressed anger and disbelief and supported the math program.
I attended Princeton University and have two masters degrees. By all means, I would not have been a “whole child“ in our superintendent’s eyes. I spent too much time studying as a kid. But looking back, those “nerdy“ hours have laid the basis for my confidence and creativity later in my life. After all, we don’t create new things out of nothing. We create out of the solid base of knowledge. Building such a base of knowledge doesn’t have to be stressful. When guided by curiosity and interest, even the most boring fact can become fascinating.
It’s parents’ and teachers’ job to ignite the fire of curiosity in our kids. When this fire is not present, we should ask whether we are teaching the right way. Are we pushing kids where no talent exists? Or are we conveying knowledge that we sometimes don’t even understand ourselves?
The last question I would ask is whether we should eliminate knowledge. When it comes to the issue of A&E, I believe the right question should be how we can make math more interesting to more kids, not whether math classes should be eliminated.
Helen Ming
West Windsor
