Letters to the Editor

To the Editor:

Gene Maeroff in his Commentary essay, "The Assault on the Carnegie Unit'' (Oct. 13, 1993), says that the secondary-school Carnegie unit "has increasingly transformed itself into a restraint on teaching and learning.'' In support of this, he describes all ofthe rigidities of school organization, from inflexible time schedules to unchanging curricula. And we all know he is right in pointing out the rigidities of many secondary schools.

But he is wrong in suggesting that the Carnegie unit is a principal roadblock. The schools that want to improve their teaching, curriculum, schedules, and programs do so with little or no concern for how to accommodate to the Carnegie unit. One never even hears mention of the term in...