And readers' responses to the NYT article highlighted in my last post

Readers respond to a column that said many students today don’t make the effort to excel.

To the Editor:

Re “Obama’s Homework Assignment,” by Thomas L. Friedman (column, Jan. 19):

Mr. Friedman proposes that too many students don’t take their education seriously enough and don’t put in the work needed to succeed. While many teachers (including me) will quickly agree, has our profession inadvertently been part of the problem?

In professional development, the subject of student responsibility has been mentioned only rarely at best. Best practices purport to be student-centered, but they put the full responsibility in the hands of the instructor.

The profession requires much in time and energy; it is not for the faint of heart. And all of the noble sentiments that we espouse are real. But are we enamored of our own nobility? If so, then it’s easy to see how we take on the brunt of the learning encounter. Assistance can become enablement. And compassion can become co-dependence.

GERALD J. DALZELL
Rutherford, N.J., Jan. 20, 2014

To the Editor:

Thomas L. Friedman writes that apathetic parents and students may not be the “key cause of income inequality and persistent poverty,” but that parental involvement and student work habits are “surely part of their solutions.” As a teacher who formerly worked in New York City public schools, I can attest that the cause-effect link between income inequality and parental involvement and student work habits flows in the other direction.

The parents of my students wanted a rigorous education for their children, but nearly all of them worked at least two jobs, and many spoke English as a second language. My high school students were already shouldering adult responsibilities, taking care of younger siblings and helping non-English-speaking grandparents and relatives navigate the city.

For parents to be involved, they must be available. This is simply not possible when many of them are forced to work 80-plus-hour workweeks to make ends meet.

SALLY WHITE
Forest Hills, Queens, Jan. 20, 2014

To the Editor:

While I applaud Thomas L. Friedman’s call for parental accountability in our nation’s schools, I am surprised by his use of Secretary of Education Arne Duncan as a spokesman. Mr. Duncan’s own record has helped to create and perpetuate the very situation decried by the educators whom Mr. Friedman cites, in which teachers are “interrogated” and, ultimately, blamed, when students fail to succeed.

Mr. Duncan’s “Race to the Top,” by tying teacher evaluation to student academic performance, reinforces that climate. The secretary is an adherent of the “outcomes-based model” that also gave us No Child Left Behind. Supporters of this model don’t want any student written off as “unteachable,” but err in assuming that teachers, provided a big enough stick (merit-based pay reductions, threat of dismissal), can turn around any student’s achievement, no matter the mitigating circumstances.

Schools and families need to work together, sharing responsibility for getting reluctant or disengaged kids to buckle down and commit to learning. If President Obama — and Secretary Duncan — want to start singing that tune, I, too, would welcome it.

DAVID NURENBERG
Somerville, Mass., Jan. 20, 2014

The writer is a high school English teacher and an adjunct professor of education at Lesley University.

To the Editor:

Thank you, Thomas L. Friedman and Arne Duncan, for finally stating what should be an obvious truth regarding what ails public education in our country today: Students don’t work hard enough because nobody compels them to do so.

Having worked as a volunteer tutor at a public elementary school in Wisconsin for the past 12 years, I’ve been amazed at the prevailing culture of permissiveness and tolerance for mediocre levels of academic achievement among too many students.

Certainly, early childhood interventions, including prekindergarten for 4-year-olds, and better teachers with better salaries are needed. But, so long as the near universal practice of social promotion continues, students will lack incentives to work harder, and poorly educated graduates will remain the norm.

CARL SILVERMAN
Madison, Wis., Jan. 19, 2014