Mr. or Mrs. Superintendent,

You know that tax supported Public Schools, at least in the larger cities and suburbs, no longer educate young people. You also know any step you take to change the entrenched system will be bitterly challenged. Experts agree that starting in the 1st grade American children enter the school system based on their mental and emotional health. From that point forward It is no longer politically correct to challenge students with a curriculum encouraging real and measurable educational development. Our elementary schools have become an authority replacement for parents and psychologists.

The shift of parental responsibility to elementary school teachers has not been successful. One of the principal reasons is their inability to discipline underachieving and misbehaving students. Parents no longer tolerate classroom discipline and yet they demand that their child not be held back until he or she meets the required educational standards. The inevitable result is that the bad students hold back the good ones.

Political correctness demands that classes be designed to meet the needs of the students capable of the lowest achievement level. As long as this continues, high performing grades A, B & C students will not be challenged to achieve more. The progressive system is rigged to pass students to the next grade level regardless of academic achievement.

By the time students reach intermediate or junior high school, only a few are adequately prepared. Most begin floundering on their way toward high school, and increasing gap between capable students and those who have fallen behind. The failing students, the ones that have not successfully accomplished the prerequisites for grade level subjects, simply can not succeed. They have been passed forward with low grades, but insufficient knowledge.

From about grade 7 forward the MAJORITY of public school students face the frustration of continuing failure. If their non-achievement isn't turned around by the 9th grade, it is too late for most of them. If they finish high school at all, they are not prepared for college or university classes. They are usually not prepared to enter the adult work force either. So these young people find themselves at the lowest economic level. Many never recover to lead a decent, contributing life.

To sum up, scholastic achievement must be the gauge of success starting in the elementary grades.

No student should pass to the next grade without a satisfactory level of achievement. Intermediate schools are the last place where students with poor grades can raise them. By the time they reach high school it is too late.

The key to a good education is the student's performance in intermediate schools.

Achieving the most important prerequisites happens in those grades. It won't happen unless:

• School teachers and administrators hold students responsible for unacceptable conduct.
• Students conform to school and grade level standards or be held back until they do.

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