CB> PS>        The State of Washington is now proposing a teacher testing
CB> PS>process in an attempt to weed out teachers who are underqualified 
CB> in
CB> PS>term of their own academics.
CB> 
CB> This IS an interesting question and it deserves more study.  But a 
CB> lot 
CB> of the motivation for it is due to schools' sensitivity to public 
CB> image. 
    I'll agree.
    
CB>  Notes and letters with grammatical errors or mispellings sent home 
CB> to 
CB> parents from the very people who are supposed to teach grammar and 
CB> spelling are an embarrassment.  
    Such notes are more than an "embarassment"!
    An English teacher with poor grammar is no more ready to teach your kid 
grammar than I am to teach you to fly a 747.
CB> I think testing of teacher candidates for mastery of basic skills 
CB> (reading, writing and arithmetic) isn't such a bad idea as long as 
CB> colleges continue to graduate people with skills only equivalent to 
CB> 65% 
CB> accuracy.
    Agreed.
    Public schools will lose the middle class if the "image problem" you cite 
continues.  Already, at least two for-profit private schools exist in 
Greensboro, and a variety of nonprofit private schools are expanding.
    If the public schools lose the middle class parent, it will be impossible 
to pass tax or bond referendums. 
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