Letters to the Editor
Driving Behind Bill Burton: How Frustrating!
Dear Bay Weekly:
In response to Mr. Bill Burton’s remarks in “Our Lawmakers Are Driving me Crazy” [Vol. XI, No. 10, March 3] regarding our Maryland legislators passing a law that you must drive in the right lane unless you are passing another vehicle in the left lane:
How often do we try to pass a slow-moving auto only to be blocked because its driver refuses to yield the right of way? How frustrating!
Instead of thinking of creating more road-rage, why not try to think of fostering more courtesy on the road?
I say three cheers for our legislators in the House of Delegates for their forward thinking.
— Larry Hatch: Former driver-education instruction, North Beach
Our Schools Need Mentor-Teachers
Dear Bay Weekly:
Anne Arundel considers new teachers to be throwaways. This is the unspoken message in Superintendent Eric Smith’s proposal that the Board of Education cut the 26 mentor-teachers by half. It’s a very large price to pay for so small a savings: one-eighth of one percent in a $641 million budget.
Mentors help first- and second-year teachers succeed in a time when students are increasingly hard to handle. Mr. Smith hints he may force a choice between textbooks and mentors. But the big choice is between mentors and Anne Arundel getting a rep for high turnover of young teachers.
There are already enough disincentives in teaching in Anne Arundel. In its 47 schools that remain un-airconditioned, who will be blamed for students not doing well on big tests?
Many open-space schools have not had interior walls built to create traditional classrooms.
The four-period day puts classes into the high 30s and even 40s. Discipline will be difficult. High school teachers will have six instead of five classes and 192 rather than 140 students at a time. Middle school encore teachers will have 270 at a time. It’s a sweatshop load.
The percent of high schoolers taking one or more advanced placement courses will be quickly expanded from 29 to 40. This one-third increase in a short time means that students with inadequate skills will be induced to attempt college-level courses. Guess who will be blamed for the low scores on AP exams. Think twice about being an AP teacher in Anne Arundel County.
Think twice about being any kind of teacher in Anne Arundel County. Thirty years ago, Superintendent Ed Anderson described teachers as “hired hands.” That attitude apparently continues.
Go west, young teachers, if the board cuts the mentors. Go to a system that doesn’t think of mentor-teachers as a frill, a system that doesn’t think of you as a throwaway.
— James A. Hoage, Severna Park
We ‘Laid’ Ourselves Open This Time
Dear Bay Weekly:
Re: Not Just for Kids March 6 [Vol. XI, No. 10]: “This piece of flexible plastic is a cheap model of the toboggan. You lay …”
You’re too good for this kind of goof. As it stands, the sentence says either that “you” place goosefeathers on the sled or that your action took place in the past. The verb you want is lie.
Now that we’ve cleared that up, let me go on to say that I enjoy reading Bay Weekly a great deal.
— Lucia Atlas, Annapolis
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