[etni] Let's take some pride

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Having read the many letters on the knowledge of English/ Intelligence 
dichotomy, my own feeling is that these two areas are inseparable and  I 
honestly feel proud of the fact that the teaching of English in this country is 
raising it's standard.  It is no secret that we rate extremely low on reading 
comprehension and math skills as compared with our other western counterparts. 
If the general education system in this country is doing such a lousy job I 
genuinely feel proud to be part of this fine population of pedadogues and 
educators. Our responsibility is immense for if not us, who will teach our kids 
what it really means to become critical readers and writers? Where will our 
students learn how to produce outstanding projects with well  formulated 
research questions and properly written bibliographies. Where will they learn 
something about standing up in front of an audience and deliver a "paper" on a 
topic that they have researched and drawn conclusions on. Why are we satisfied 
with only teaching the language- don't we regard ouirselves as real educators 
in our effort to give these kids real tools for their future intellectual 
endeavors and higher academic achievement. This year in general and the past 
week in particular have not always been easy and we have all found ourselves at 
times cursing certain people as we tear what little hair we have left out. 
However, with every educational inovation there are growing pains and we will 
get it right sooner than we think. Ultimately, our students have so much to 
gain from the challenges we will be presenting them with. Isn't that what we're 
doing here? 
All the best,
Lindsey Shapiro
 

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