Are David Ruenzel and Larry Cuban [“Book Review: The Blackboard and the Bottom Line,” May/ June] forgetting what public education was like in this country before education reform? Public schools weren’t bad, they were an embarrassment! Thank goodness the business community, along with state legislators, stepped in to fix this disaster. Someone had to. Billions, even trillions, of dollars spent nationwide, and all those folks in charge never even had the wherewithal to have promulgated a common curriculum that teachers were “supposed” to teach to. Many of these fearless school “leaders” were more interested in having students feel good than be able to read and write competently upon graduation. Does anyone really want to return to those “good old days” of yesteryear, when we gave away high school diplomas simply for showing up for four years?
Paul Hoss
Scituate Public Schools
Scituate, Massachusetts
