I read with interest the response to Aaron Woell’s Feb. 4 column on education. I have spent many years in school as a student and even more years paying taxes and tuition for others to attend school.

I interview and hire those who have gone through our educational system. I agree with many of your observations but would like to make a few comments.

You say that a majority of teachers are not lazy but simply have not been shown what technology can do for them.

The information is there and here is where some competition would help.

In my field, if I don’t keep up with what’s happening and provide the best services to my customers and staff, someone else gets my job. It’s up to me to keep on top of things.

More demanding material is necessary, but make it relevant. The teacher needs to tailor it and, when possible, put it in the context of what the students are hearing and seeing around them.

Some schools near me start well before 8:00 a.m.

I don’t know why unless it is felt that students should go to school before the parents leave for work.

Maybe they think it is better for a student to return to an empty house at the end of the day than to leave an empty house at the beginning of the day.

The latest research I’ve read indicates that students are not as alert and have lower retention if they start earlier rather than later in the morning.

You state that starting the school day later would only add to the problems, but you don’t say why.

Recesses are being eliminated and noon hours shortened to allow better control of the students.

The staff does not want the students milling around and “getting into trouble.” Lunch periods in some schools are so short that some students don’t get through the lunch line before the bell rings.

Rushed eating is a health problem in itself.

Incompetent teachers should be eliminated if they can’t first be re-trained.

However, they shouldn’t be allowed in the classroom in the first place.

Better pre-graduation evaluation and pre-employment screening is necessary.

Parental involvement is key. Any parent who is too busy to be involved in the education of their children shouldn’t have had children in the first place.

When my children were invited to join the honors program in elementary school, I went to the parent orientation meetings.

The superintendent said that parent participation was very important, but that he was preaching to the converted.

He knew that we had been involved from the beginning.

As an example of our involvement, my wife and I read to the kids every night.

When they started reading on their own, we sometimes had them read to us.

There were no limits placed on reading material.

No limits at the checkout counter, although we did try to steer them toward “real” reading material and not an armload of sticker books.

There was usually a mix of things, including the sticker books. Both of our children are voracious readers and self-educators.

Involvement for the teachers is just as important.

Consider the Parent Teacher Organization.

I rarely see teachers at those meetings.

Where I lived before, we didn’t have the normal parent/teacher meetings with the students staying home for a day or two like they do here for my children.

Those conferences were held informally once a month at the PTO meetings. Teacher attendance at those meetings was over 90 percent.

Parent attendance was also very high with virtually every family being represented.

If I wrote teacher contracts, those meetings would be mandatory.

I assume that you are studying to become a teacher.

Treat it as a career, not a job.

Be involved in the system, process and the community you teach in.

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Robert Woell

Bolingbrook, Ill.