Bush vs. China, and himself

I agree with you that the American system of primary and secondary education, a descendant of the noble 19th century effort to provide social mobility and equality to a sprawling agrarian nation, is extremely ill-suited to America in the 21st century. Kids, particularly those in high school, are trapped in an environment that expects many of them to be what they are not, and socially and emotionally punishes them when they do not conform to expectations.

The trades and guilds are not dead in Germany. Young adolescents there choose (by a combination of preference and academic achievement) different tracks in secondary education. These choices are not irreversible, but they set the youngster off on a path more in line with his or her interests and abilities. There is a vocational track, wherein the students begin apprenticeships at relatively young ages. There is a science/math/engineering track, and a sort-of liberal arts college prep track.

There, schools are for learning and for preparing for one's "beruf," loosely translated as profession or trade. Schools are not seen as a tool for well-intentioned but ham-handed bureaucrats to fashion a more correct society. Nor are they a simple vessel for ill-educated athletes. The schools in Germany are successful because they stick to the basics, and do so in a way that recognizes that the proper basics vary from student to student.

-- Steve Albertson, Washington state

I am a junior German major at SUNY Binghamton, and I am planning on pursuing an MAT degree and working in secondary schools. I'm trying to maintain enough youthful idealism to convince myself I'll be able to fight through the bureaucracy and actually teach, rather than force-feeding facts. Tests have gone from a form of evaluation to being treated as a task directly from God. It doesn't matter if you "understand" the material, just as long as you can spout it well enough for the test.

The amount of pressure being put on these students is outrageous. Schools have become political battlefields, financial burdens, even life-threatening, should you be one of those unfortunates to witness a shooting. I remember my mother explaining the concept of school to me as "the place where you go to learn all different kinds of things." Well, now we learn how to cheat to pass the test. How to suck up to the teacher to get a good recommendation. How to do well no matter what the cost. How to duck the bullet that just might come spinning through the cafeteria. How to head down to the nurse's office for the Prozac. Is it any wonder half the kids in America can't do math? Nobody wants to admit that what we have isn't working right.

-- Abigail Tilden

We are a culture that has a lot of leisure time, but persons under the age of 21 are not encouraged to enjoy it. I find it absurd that in most places one must be 21 to go dancing. The age of entrance to nightclubs ought to be lowered to 16. Teenagers are the ones who can really appreciate dance clubs the best, and for some reason they are shut out of them.

Also, the lack of public transportation in most U.S. cities is deplorable. Since younger teens can't drive, they can't go to places where they might have fun, unless their parents drive them. They are forced to stay at home, or go to nearby places, where there isn't really much to do. Of course they get depressed and do drugs! We live in a culture of prolonged childhood, where people past puberty are still entirely dependent on their parents for everything from food to mobility.

Some teenagers will find other ways to entertain themselves. I liked to light candles and dance naked in my backyard while singing to moon-goddesses. The neighbors complained once or twice, and my parents thought I was weird, but hey, at least I wasn't doing tons of drugs. When it comes to drugs, there is also the glamour of the forbidden. Those of us who were permitted to have a little wine occasionally when we were children learned to use alcohol more responsibly than those whose parents forbade it to them.

-- Nicole

Having gotten my doctorate in English in 1968, I have always cherished Maynard Mack, though I knew him only from his writings. You forgot to mention a salient fact about his work: It was readable. Much contemporary criticism is couched in an impenetrable jargon, a mercy if you think about it. Its demise is guaranteed. By contrast, Mack's "Muse of Satire" could still be read appreciatively by any literate adult. He belonged to a generation of scholars that knew not only what literature was but what it was for (and it was not to support ideological agendas and promulgate pleasing fictions about some people's ethnic heritage). I was pleased by your testimonial and delighted to learn that Prof. Mack lived to be 90.

-- Scott Rice, professor of English, San Jose State University

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