Re: "Education still requires facts," Sept. 8.
For well over 30 years, I taught English to students in Grades 8 through 12. I was a "chalk and talk" style of teacher, and thus mortified to read in the editorial that teachers like me "bored generations of kids." This statement completely contradicts the impression I gleaned from hundreds of students who told me how much they enjoyed my classes.
I am, however, completely in agreement with the statement that "every couple of decades - our school system is seized with another fad." During my teaching career, I was subjected to many such fads, of which two spring to mind.
We were told that we should never ask students to memorize poetry. Over many years, I had come to the conclusion that students in Grades 8 and 9 had minds like blotting paper and actually enjoyed memorizing poetry. I thus continued to make such demands upon them. I often meet former students of mine who quote to me lines of verse learned long ago, and say how much they appreciate having been exposed to the discipline required for memorization.
Another fad was when we were told we should not teach formal grammar. I ignored this edict and earned the gratitude of those of my students who were excused from taking the "bonehead" English courses that were introduced by the universities in the 1970s when faced with the arrival of thousands of illiterate B.C. high-school graduates.
After several years of this nonsensical policy, we were told we should be teaching formal grammar. The problem was we now had a generation of young teachers who were required to teach what they themselves had never been taught. I found myself explaining, with a piece of chalk, the "basics" to my younger colleagues.
Ivor Ford
Victoria
