Life is not about memorizing a math problem

This is in response to Mr. Glenn D. Guerrero’s letter to the editor in the Saipan Tribune on June 25. You missed two earlier letters where I alluded to the very points you brought up. Support at home is critical as we both agree. The breakdown in family values is open to debate. Some families’ values include taking a 2X4 to an unruly kid. DYS reported 153 incidences of breakdown in family values in 2013. I think it is more of a disconnect between the old and the young with the old failing to keep up with technology and admitting their kids might be smarter than they are. The rich certainly don’t have any problems because they bypass PSS, equip their kids with the latest and are generally more attuned to what’s going on in today’s world.

I still am 100 percent against awards for school children. I have lived in Micronesia and the Pacific for 55 years and in the early ’60s, kids got along better because every kid was better at something than another one and they all recognized that uniqueness. Now they are all expected to be good at the same thing and the whole class is expected to get the same answer to the same question. Life is not about memorizing a math problem and forgetting it the next day. It’s about being creative, excited, unique, passionate and compassionate. Twenty kids should be asked 20 different questions and the teacher should evaluate all 20 answers accordingly. If I am passionate about 500 hp Toyota pickups, I should be tested on that subject, not be forced to write a report on Charles Dickens. I want kids to be able to find the answer to any question they have on YouTube, Google or FB. I want kids that can think. I want kids that can understand, and I don’t mean an algebra problem, I mean real life problems.

Only 20 percent of CNMI kids go to college, and fewer graduate and I think we are shortchanging those 80 percent that are not engaged, bored, and tired of the BS they get at PSS. Cut out the redundancy and focus on what students want to learn, not force them to try and learn what we adults think they should. The same number of kids will do well on STEM as do now but a lot more will be ready for their place in life if we let them choose vocational, technical, or academic when they get out of middle school. I’m all for the AG’s Cup, spelling bees, Math Court, and forensics and you will find that the same kids will participate under a student-friendly PSS as under the current adult-oriented PSS. I applaud you and in an ideal world and CNMI, parental involvement would be the norm but I talk to parents and kids every day and the facts just aren’t here to support that position. The fact is, the more money a family has, the better their kids do in school. Period.

Gary DuBrall
Chalan Piao, Saipan