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# Letter: Readers say basics of reading, writing and math must come first
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/students-parents-get-schooled-this-past-week-q-line-asked-what-do-you-think-are-the-biggest-challenges-facing-local-students-and-parents-how-should-th/
- Published: 2006-09-09T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T21:23:25.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Education, Downtown, #archive-import

✆ “One of the biggest challenges to students is to concentrate on, learn, re-learn and emphasize the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic. The thrills of computer learning, the arts, sciences, sports, etc. are nice and needed also. But unless the basics are emphasized, the others are weakened and undermined. Bad and improper English abounds. Calculating and computing math in all areas of life is falling short. And handwriting for the most part is deplorable. These should be a part of every grade level. Parents can help by helping and encouraging their children in these basic subjects.” ✆ “The biggest problem students face would be having to worry about what’s for lunch in the cafeteria, having to worry about not chewing gum in the hallway, and having to worry about Eddie Haskell hassling them. Oh, wait this isn’t the 1950s, this is the present. I guess they have to worry about gangs, drugs, and the punks that don’t belong in school because they should be in jail. And if they live in Los Angeles, they have to have to worry about going to LAUSD, which is probably run by a bunch of morons anyway.” ✆ “It has been said that Thomas Alva Edison and Albert Einstein were sent home from school for being too dumb to learn. It was said that Edison had knots on his head and that Einstein spoke in riddles such as e=mc2\. So parents, if the school calls your child a knot head and sends them home, do not despair, there could be genius lurking in their craniums.” ✆ “I think the greatest challenge now is the cost. My granddaughter’s college tuition, room and board only, is almost $45,000 a year. And then she has four years of graduate school just around the corner. The only choice now for the middle-class family is the so-called interest-free or low-interest loan which would leave a graduate starting out in the world of debt of several hundred thousands dollars. And it’s the only choice.” ✆ “As a parent with two children attending Santa Monica schools, I wonder if the Santa Monica school district is bracing for and preparing for the hundreds upon hundreds of educationally disadvantaged children who will be moving to Santa Monica as a result of the City Council approving low-income housing projects that are being built downtown and even on San Vincente Boulevard. Many will be the children of illegal immigrants whose parents cannot be filtered out of Section 8 and affordable housing programs. The enormous number of children who will be coming into the Santa Monica school system will require enormous resources and funds which will divert the resources away from average to advanced students in the system, and overall educational opportunities will diminish qualitatively. Furthermore, with the new trend in refugee housing planned by Rosario Perry who currently plans to throw residents and taxpayers out on the streets so that tax subsidized refugees can be brought in to enjoy the benefits of government programs and public schools. We are a few short years away from becoming a third-world school system. What is the school board going to do about that eventuality?” ✆ “The biggest challenge a student faces is the progressive hysteria of the school board. The political correctness of gender and affirmative action hires within the school district. I’m not sure the progressive, obsessed views of teachers and principals can teach the three most important learning aids: Rely on no one but yourself. Nothing gets done unless you do it. Have a discriminating mind about everything, and most of all, common sense. How many of our educators are capable of teaching anything but the nutty ideas from ‘it takes a village?’ Instead of the love of big brother type society teaching, young people need to be supported in their quest for intellectual independence. This life long quest of the understanding of the freedom to pursue true education in any area the mind seeks.” ✆ “Racism is the biggest challenge. The school district really needs to start dealing with it head on.” ✆ “I think the biggest challenge facing local students and parents is the information that they present to the school district. Many outside the city, families send false addresses to the school district when they are enrolling their child. They are ripping off taxpayers, they are ripping off families who can’t get into schools that should be able to enroll at a Santa Monica-Malibu school. But because they are outside students who are getting in and the school district is not enforcing their no into district policy, it’s a very bad situation. I think that’s the biggest challenge the district needs to take care of.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 9, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/090906.pdf?ref=smdp.com)