P«oe 4
mort
to editor
Adalla/
Ruvnn
This letter is in rebuttal to
an article, which appeared in
May in the Capitol Campus
paper, by Terri Ann Reed
concerning her visit to John
Harris High School in harris
burg.
I am the “young student
teacher” (from Capitol Cam
pus) "learning about the
techniques of educating” that
Ms. Reed mentions in her
article. I think it necessary to
point out the distortions and
false implications which Ms.
Reed is so fondly adept at
creating.
Ms. Reed begins her ob
servation of my class with
this statement: “The room is
large enough for thirty stu
dents, but there are only
about 15 students in this
class.” The room could con
ceivably hold much more
than* thirty students. There
are seats for thirty five, more
than enough for the twenty
five students assigned to my
class. Of the twenty five
students, seventeen were
present that day. The ab
sence of eight students that
day was the highest number
of absences for the quarter
school year, the average for
April being 3.5.
1f Ms. Reed’s statement
is taken in conjunction with
her other statements con
cerning room capacity, stu
dent attendance and student
apathy, it is evident that Ms.
Reed desired to create the
impression that few students
attend class. In my case she
implied that fifty percent of
the students were not present
which is incorrect.
Ms. Reed continues her
observation using Michael, a
I’m tired of playing the BITCH.
•rt
Eliminate the bongo (Head Shop) ad!
student assigned to her, as
protagbnist. "Michael learns
that Orientals honor their
elderly citizens and that they
live in extended families be
cause they are poor. He
learns that the Oriental coun
tries are not like the United
States, he learns that Orien
tals tend to grow up, live,
work and die in the same
town or village, "just think if
you had to spend your entire
life in Harrisburg.!’ " the
student-teacher says, imply
ing that Americans are more
fortunate.”
Not only did I point out
that elderly citizens are re
spected and form an integral
part of the family in China, I
also implied that such behav
ior is superior to the treat
ment of the old in the United
States. This implication Ms.
Reed forgot to mention.
Extended families do
serve an importanteconomic
function, a fact well-known to
sociologists and anthropol
ogists. Extended families
many times produce close
personal relationships which
in turn create loving respon
sible people, a benefit which I
did not say is absent. Nor did
I state that only the poor live
in extended families.
“Oriental countries are
not like the United State.” I
will allow that statement to
stand as I will the next
statement, except for one
major correction, the re
placement of the word Orien
tal with the word Chinese.
Ms. Reed has an acute fond
ness for the word Oriental, a
word youtshould notice I was
not quoted as using. Ms.
Dear Mr. Johnson,
You've done it again.
You’ve compared Chinese
culture to American culture in
your rebuttal. Should a teach
er compare one's own cul
ture to explain another cul
ture?
Enough of this~my con
cern is for the student, an
innocent victim of Big Educa
tion. The consumers (stu
dents) mechanically move
Glad this one’s over.
Why offer slow death to students?
Reed evidently desired my
lecture to be an ethnocentric
"them versus us" indoctrin
ation, with a flavoring of
racial prejudice.
The statement "Just think
if you had to spend your
entire life in Harrisburg” is
accurate. But sentences are
surrounded by other sen
tences and sentences form
paragraphs. Each sentence
is only part of the whole
communication. This is a
very basic fact that even
mediocre writers and speak
ers grasp. The sentence pre
ceding the quoted statement
was: "Even trips twenty
miles into the country would
be difficult.”
I did not mean to suggest
that Harrisburg was a bad
city to live in or that living in
one place your entire life was
loathsome. I did imply that in
the United States we have
freedom of movement per
haps unequaled in the world
and that we sometimes take it
for granted.
Ms. Reed believed I im
plied that “Americans are
more fourtunate." She forgot
to clarify that the implication
pertained only to freedom of
movement. Her implication of
my statement coming at the
end of the paragraph, and
thus seeming to be a sum
mary of the entire paragraph,
coupled with her reckless use
of the word Oriental estab
lishes the effect Ms. Reed
desired.
Ms. Reed discards the
student teacher for the mo
ment for as of yet untouched
prey-the students. “Two stu
dents are resting or sleeping.
Three students are doing
their English homework...”
You cannot force a student to
Rebuttal to Rebuttal
from classroom to classroom
while the laborers (teachers)
offer products (education) to
the consumers and yell
“Next!” when class is over.
Perhaps I’ve hit upon a
truth that hurts. And perhaps
my “devious meanderings”
are simply the ugly side of Big
Education that no one wants
to see. Do you see it?
the editor
team. You can
they are responsible for the
material presented in class.
You will find that all my
students recognize their re
sponsibility and if they, for
the reasons mentioned, are
not attentive they know e
nough to borrow the notes of
their friends. Students are
individuals who have their
own schedules and their own
priorities. As long as they
remember their responsibil
ities, I would not deny them
their small measure of free
dom.
Lunch is taken and the
students return. "The World
Culture student-teacher con
tinues lecturing. Where were
we. Oh yes, the Orientals,”
writes Ms. Reed. Only a
diligent reader would notice
that both sentences are Ms.
Reeds. “Oh yes, the Orien
tals" are not my words.
Ms. Reed is not finished.
“A student...asks, ’lsn’t ev
rything you said today in the
textbook?’ ‘Yes,’ the teacher
ianswers, ‘l’m just picking
out the things that are impor
tant.’ ” Ah, so this is why two
students sleep and three
work on their English home
work during class. As a
student-teacher I do rely
more heavily on the book
than experienced teachers.
However, my lectures are
supplemented by other
sources, and structuring
teaching around a book is
a practical method of organ
ization and reinforcement.
If so many distortions
concerning my class could be
congealed into a few para
graphs, what injustices must
have been perpetrated upon
the capable and conscien
tious teachers who had the
In the “Sexual Harass
ment: it’s against the law,”
article in the May 17 issue,
pages 4-5, it was incorrectly
printed that two women wrote
the article. Roz Powell was
EGG ON THE FACE! bland, ludricrous, spiritless
Apologies to Ruth Chess tragedy of Capitol Campus--
and Todd Barnhard, for the eh, Todd? No typos though
name/photo mix-up. Guess no typos. Sorry to both of
this is an example of the you!
Terri Ann Reed
He Head Keeper
8 West Main St. Hummelstown, PA
• tterßn) «IWw • tarqioist • inetnit
Largest selection of
paraphernalia in the area
Hours- 12:00 - 9:00 Mon. - Fri.
12:00 -8:00 Sat.
Phone 566-3624
• *3.2s a box
• • 10*affwHhthfcntl.».
misfortune o
visit? If it took me hundreds of
words to dissect the devious
meanderings of a few para
graphs, how many Capitol
Campus newspapers would
be filled to correct all the
injustices of the article.?
I have no ill feelings
towards Ms. Reed, i have
nothing but praise for her
writing skills. She is a cap
able journalist; perhaps
someday she will find herself
on the staff of a large news
paper. She has all the re
quirements-an extensive and
discerning command of the
English language, an under
standing of the intricacies of
sentence construction, the
ability to formulate ideas in
concise terms, her grasp of
the abstract manifests a most
trenchant and sentient mind.
Thomas Wolfe, in his novel,
You Can't Go Home Again,
delineates some of the char
acteristics of the veteran
journalist:
"I’d sell my best friend
out to get a story. I’d betray
your trust, your faith, your
friendliness, twist everything
you say around until any
sincerity, sense, or honesty
that might be in your words
was made to sound like the
maunderings of a buffoon or
a clown if I thought it would
make a better story. I don't
give a damn about the truth
for accuracy for facts for
telling anything about you
people here, your lives, your
speech the way you look, the
way you really a re... What I
want to get is the special
angle on it. ’ ’
William Johnson
John Harris campus of
Harrisburg High School
Rtafcr CarraetiMt
the sole writer
The Reader apologizes
for any inconvenience
caused Ms. Powell by this
mistake.
c.c. reader