Police lauded for handling of recent standoff
On Feb. 26, I was one of the residents of Chatham Garden Apartments in Ellicott City who had to be evacuated by police because of the unfortunate standoff that began in the early morning.
At 8 a.m., residents in our area had to leave and were transported by police to the Church of the Resurrection nearby.
I commend the officers of the State Police and Howard County for the professional and compassionate manner in which they handled the situation. Their conduct and help were exemplary throughout.
I have only the highest praise for them since there was no unfortunate outcome.
The people of Resurrection were wonderful hosts, providing breakfast and lunch for the displaced persons.
For all of us who were involved, a well-deserved "thank you" for all who were so capably served.
Steven E. Asendorf
Mary Asendorf, Ellicott City
Infrastructure blocks new utilities
Several readers of The Sun, as well as your editors, think it is only necessary to say the magic words -- let there be competition in the local utility networks -- and this will automatically produce savings.
Nothing prevents anyone who wants to start a business offering competitive utility services from doing so at this time, if we begin with a level-playing field.
It should be understood, though, that the infrastructure will be severely impacted by digging up the roads and streets to place new underground cables and pipes. This alone will cause the public to say, "Is this really needed?"
The cable television industry has established a network that is capable of providing local telephone service but has not chosen to do so because of the enormous costs.
Every telephone connected in this arrangement could call any other telephone served by the cable TV network and the same computer (in telephone parlance, this is called a "central office"). A switching network could be developed to connect with other cable TV computers in other locations or telephone "co's".
This process of creating competitive local telephone service could be accomplished now if the users of the new service could only call users on the same system.
But obviously this would be impractical as every user would have to have two telephones, one on the new system as well as on the local telephone system. The answer very simply is that the public is best served by utilities that operate as a regulated monopoly with controls over both investments and rates. The country has been well-served by the monopoly status of utilities and every attempt to establish duplicate systems have ended in failure.
The Sun could better serve the area by encouraging competition in the newspaper and print media.
It would be interesting to see how well the introduction of competition in the news industry could be brought about using the resources and printing presses of The Sun. That would certainly level the playing field.
John G. Lacey Jr., Ellicott City
The writer is executive director of the Retired Users Group.
Class schedule is a block to learning opportunities
My family and I are new to the Howard County public school system. However, we have been involved in the community for many years through our church, Long Reach Church of God.
I have tutored several Howard County school students over the years and served on a committee to establish the church's Christian academy. Education is very important to us. We are very active in the development of our children.
My daughter is a freshman at Long Reach High School and is taking G.T. (gifted and talented) and honors classes. I have two major concerns. The first is block scheduling. Second is the hour high school starts.
Schools using block scheduling have completed the first semester. Though my daughter maintained a 4.0 for this first semester, I am concerned about the level of mastery that she was able to achieve. In the block-schedule system, teachers are under pressure to keep pace to meet the demands of the schedule; therefore, they omit or rush through content.
In comparing the content covered at this point under the 90-day block schedule to that covered under the 180-day traditional schedule, there seems to be little difference. There is no margin given for teacher or student absences or inclement weather closings. If any of the three occur, the result of the lost time is effectively doubled. The students in the block schedule system ended their first semester courses this month while those under the traditional schedule have 90 more days to be exposed to course content. Where is the equity?
Is the system providing a survey of a course rather than comprehensive exposure to a subject? Is there time to assimilate difficult material and stimulate long-term memory? There seems to be little benefit for students to add an additional course to their academic year under the block schedule system when adding another class reduces the time available for studying the traditional seven.
It is my understanding that the benefit of block scheduling is to give students the opportunity to add one additional course to their academic year. While I agree that students may be exposed to more courses, what about content? Are they retaining what they learn? What about mastery? One cannot begin to solve problems in an efficient manner without a sound core from which to begin.
It is known that the average person can retain only about 15 minutes of new material at a time. Are the student going to realistically retain any more content in a 90-minute class as opposed to a 45-minute class?
Are the majority of the teachers using the full 90 minutes to instruct and deliver content? In reality, the average teacher is not teaching "smart" and is not effectively utilizing the time available.
Many teachers seem to have problems keeping pace with the condensed schedule. They have difficulty getting quizzes and assignments graded in time for students to assess their knowledge prior to tests. Since textbooks are written for yearlong use, large sections of material are given only cursory attention.
My daughter has heard teachers say:
"We will not cover this because it will not be on the test" (Maryland Schools Performance Assessment Program or the California Tests of Basic Skills).
"We are doing this to prepare for the test."
Mathematics, English and foreign language study significantly suffer in the block schedule system. Unless a student schedules these courses each semester, there is no way to acquire the needed continuity. Students may not see some subjects, theoretically, for as many as two years prior to entering college. This will affect their SAT results due to the time lapse between the testing and the study of materials. Is there any wonder students are scoring poorly, or not as well as they could?
My other concern is the high school start time, generally 7: 30 a.m. Studies reveal a connection to the sleeping habits of young people and hormonal changes during adolescence. Average adolescents need 7 to 8 hours of sleep. It appears they are not getting their proper rest. Part of the problem is their bodies are undergoing tremendous changes and don't generally become tired until late in the evening (around 10: 30 or 11 p.m.). School assignments, after-school employment and extracurricular activities contribute to the late bedtime.
Having school start at 7: 30 flies in the face of their need for more rest. Some teachers complain that they can't get students to respond during the first hour of school. Could it be that students are not fully awake? During extracurricular activities, students nap during breaks. Is sleep deprivation wise during their formative years?
An alternative would be to consider swapping the start time with kindergartners who tend to be naturally awake at the crack of dawn and get sleepy by 1 p.m. Kindergartners don't start school until 9: 30 a.m. or 1 p.m.
Preparing our children means giving them the tools they need to succeed. Block scheduling and the early school start time fly in the face of that goal.
Jacquelin McCoy, Columbia
Pub Date: 3/07/99