Letters, 3/26: Political neutrality impossible
I’m writing in response to the Sunday stories on the perceived liberal bias of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s teaching faculty and complaints from some conservative students that their voices are silenced in the classroom. Though tallying the political affiliations of UNL faculty may be newsworthy, it is my sincere hope that articles like these serve to provoke real, sustained dialogue on the university campus and in our community.
As a graduate student and an instructor in the Departments of English and Women’s and Gender Studies, I am a passionate advocate of academic freedom. It is healthy for members of an intellectual community to question the biases present in their classrooms; as students and teachers, we cannot continue to learn if we are not aware of the rhetoric that surrounds us.
In continuing to think about the politics of our classrooms, I hope we will remember that purely neutral spaces are not possible. Just consider the construction of a course syllabus: What an instructor chooses to assign to his or her students is a political act. An instructor must make choices about what is going to be read, valued and discussed in the course. We cannot pretend that these choices of inclusion and exclusion are not political. These choices happen even before students arrive to class on the first day of the semester, each carrying his or her own experiences, values and biases.
As a teacher, I work to make my pedagogical choices visible to my students, and the political nature of education as well as my students’ educational experiences are a part of our dialogue. For students as well as teachers, the practice of listening to the voices and perspectives of others is the very foundation of education.
Amber Harris Leichner, Lincoln
Support for class assessment
I am responding to the recent editorial “Ed Department should come in from cold”.
I am a public school special-education teacher, and although I have not been as immersed in STARS as Nebraska’s classroom teachers, I fully support this assessment system. It is instruction-driven, teacher-designed and helps to maintain all-important local control of district public schools.
Classroom teachers have spent a great deal of time and effort designing district assessments, trying them out in their classrooms, looking at the validity of the assessments and then fine-tuning them as needed. This is a process that is not finished, and classroom instruction and assessment has continued to improve.
Education Commissioner Doug Christensen is unfailing in his support and belief that Nebraska’s public school classroom teachers, curriculum coordinators, administrators and staff developers are highly qualified professionals dedicated to providing quality educational experiences for Nebraska’s students. Others in the Department of Education, as well as Sens. Ben Nelson and Chuck Hagel, have also shown Nebraska educators that they are valued for their knowledge and experience in educating Nebraska’s children.
Dr. Chris W. Gallagher of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has written an excellent book entitled “Reclaiming Assessment: A Better Alternative to the Accountability Agenda.” This book describes Nebraska’s journey with the School-based, Teacher-led Assessment Reporting System. I would advise anyone who is inclined to criticize Doug Christensen or STARS to first read this book “for the good of the students.”
Marcia Ough, Hampton
Governor disappoints union
This letter is in response to the article “Senators slam governor, HHS over Beatrice woes”. Nebraska members of the Teamsters Local 554 were disappointed by Gov. Dave Heineman’s recent characterization of Sen. Danielle Nantkes’ priority bill, LB235, as a bill rewarding Hollywood film executives.
Sen. Nantkes deserves thanks from all Nebraskans for offering a targeted and honest economic development measure that would benefit not only our members but incredibly gifted, creative Nebraskans. Our members have received good wages when major films are filmed in Nebraska. We, along with the Nebraska tourism industry, support LB235 and believe it is a significant economic development opportunity that Nebraska should embrace.
Teamsters Local 554 also represents hard-working committed individuals that are employed in community-based developmental disability programs. Since the governor’s criticism to Sen. Nantkes was in reaction to legislative debate regarding his administration’s failure to pass a federal investigation into the operation of the Beatrice State Developmental Center, we find it disappointing that last year the governor vetoed essential money that would have paid decent wages to those Nebraskans working for the developmentally disabled in community programs.
Ironically, these are the same programs that the governor intends to use to somehow solve the Beatrice center’s problem by discharging 100 developmentally disabled to community-based programs that do not pay an adequate wage for the services they deliver.
Now, that’s disappointing.
Jim Sheard, Omaha, Teamsters Local 554
Time to tone down rhetoric
Voters will have a really historic choice to make in the next election. While I think the Clintons have served the country well, I think Barack Obama has the intelligence and eloquence to make a real change in the way that America interacts with the rest of the world.
It is time for confrontation to yield to diplomacy. Voters will have a clear choice as to whether the war in Iraq drags on, or whether we start to cooperate with the rest of the world to find a diplomatic solution to the mess that we have created.
America must stop sticking its nose in every other country’s business. We must not be the world’s police force. It is time to tone down the abusive rhetoric and put the world on the path to peace.
Robert D. Thomson, Lincoln
As a graduate student and an instructor in the Departments of English and Women’s and Gender Studies, I am a passionate advocate of academic freedom. It is healthy for members of an intellectual community to question the biases present in their classrooms; as students and teachers, we cannot continue to learn if we are not aware of the rhetoric that surrounds us.
In continuing to think about the politics of our classrooms, I hope we will remember that purely neutral spaces are not possible. Just consider the construction of a course syllabus: What an instructor chooses to assign to his or her students is a political act. An instructor must make choices about what is going to be read, valued and discussed in the course. We cannot pretend that these choices of inclusion and exclusion are not political. These choices happen even before students arrive to class on the first day of the semester, each carrying his or her own experiences, values and biases.
As a teacher, I work to make my pedagogical choices visible to my students, and the political nature of education as well as my students’ educational experiences are a part of our dialogue. For students as well as teachers, the practice of listening to the voices and perspectives of others is the very foundation of education.
Amber Harris Leichner, Lincoln
Support for class assessment
I am responding to the recent editorial “Ed Department should come in from cold”.
I am a public school special-education teacher, and although I have not been as immersed in STARS as Nebraska’s classroom teachers, I fully support this assessment system. It is instruction-driven, teacher-designed and helps to maintain all-important local control of district public schools.
Classroom teachers have spent a great deal of time and effort designing district assessments, trying them out in their classrooms, looking at the validity of the assessments and then fine-tuning them as needed. This is a process that is not finished, and classroom instruction and assessment has continued to improve.
Education Commissioner Doug Christensen is unfailing in his support and belief that Nebraska’s public school classroom teachers, curriculum coordinators, administrators and staff developers are highly qualified professionals dedicated to providing quality educational experiences for Nebraska’s students. Others in the Department of Education, as well as Sens. Ben Nelson and Chuck Hagel, have also shown Nebraska educators that they are valued for their knowledge and experience in educating Nebraska’s children.
Dr. Chris W. Gallagher of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has written an excellent book entitled “Reclaiming Assessment: A Better Alternative to the Accountability Agenda.” This book describes Nebraska’s journey with the School-based, Teacher-led Assessment Reporting System. I would advise anyone who is inclined to criticize Doug Christensen or STARS to first read this book “for the good of the students.”
Marcia Ough, Hampton
Governor disappoints union
This letter is in response to the article “Senators slam governor, HHS over Beatrice woes”. Nebraska members of the Teamsters Local 554 were disappointed by Gov. Dave Heineman’s recent characterization of Sen. Danielle Nantkes’ priority bill, LB235, as a bill rewarding Hollywood film executives.
Sen. Nantkes deserves thanks from all Nebraskans for offering a targeted and honest economic development measure that would benefit not only our members but incredibly gifted, creative Nebraskans. Our members have received good wages when major films are filmed in Nebraska. We, along with the Nebraska tourism industry, support LB235 and believe it is a significant economic development opportunity that Nebraska should embrace.
Teamsters Local 554 also represents hard-working committed individuals that are employed in community-based developmental disability programs. Since the governor’s criticism to Sen. Nantkes was in reaction to legislative debate regarding his administration’s failure to pass a federal investigation into the operation of the Beatrice State Developmental Center, we find it disappointing that last year the governor vetoed essential money that would have paid decent wages to those Nebraskans working for the developmentally disabled in community programs.
Ironically, these are the same programs that the governor intends to use to somehow solve the Beatrice center’s problem by discharging 100 developmentally disabled to community-based programs that do not pay an adequate wage for the services they deliver.
Now, that’s disappointing.
Jim Sheard, Omaha, Teamsters Local 554
Time to tone down rhetoric
Voters will have a really historic choice to make in the next election. While I think the Clintons have served the country well, I think Barack Obama has the intelligence and eloquence to make a real change in the way that America interacts with the rest of the world.
It is time for confrontation to yield to diplomacy. Voters will have a clear choice as to whether the war in Iraq drags on, or whether we start to cooperate with the rest of the world to find a diplomatic solution to the mess that we have created.
America must stop sticking its nose in every other country’s business. We must not be the world’s police force. It is time to tone down the abusive rhetoric and put the world on the path to peace.
Robert D. Thomson, Lincoln
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