HOUSTON CHRONICLE EDITORIAL REGARDING THEIR OPPOSTION TO EDUCATION REFORM:

Even the Houston Chronicle, in an editorial on Thursday, August 11, 1994 titled "Educators Beware" indicated that they saw the changes creeping into Houston area public schools,  and they suggested that they weren't going to fly with the public.  I'm sure they got plenty of calls from TBEC (Texas Business and Education Council)!  Once the powerful in Houston nailed them down, they turned tail and jumped on the band wagon.  So much for consistency and ethics.

"Parents Demanding the Fundamental, Not the Esoteric"

Most concerned parents have a very simple way of measuring the progress of their children's education. They want to know if they are learning to read, write and do math -- and if not, why.  They want that progress measured in a simple way, as in an old-fashioned letter-grade report card.

There is a message in this sentiment:  'Parents want their children educated in the basics, not the esoteric.  Those who are school board members, administrators and professional educators would do well to take heed, because there seem to be developing some specific consequences for ignoring the message.'

In nearby districts that include Alief, Goose Creek and Montgomery, superintendents who apparently did not get the message are gone or departing.  School board members who embraced the message were elected. 

Parents want change, not to the experimental, but back to the fundamental.  Children today are confronted by a new world of technology and innovation, and education and educators must refashion to an extent to meet these new challenges.  However, that does not mean that emphasis on such as reading, writing and math have to be abandoned. That is essentially what parents think has happened.

While some educators try to assign blame and say that those aligned with the so-called religious right are retarding the educational progress, they ignore the fact that there is a general consensus among all parents that the education system and educators have failed their children -- and these parents, as voters, have their own solution.