Editor's Comments

This issue's "Comments" should probably be entitled "Odds and Ends". Many things come to mind, and a few are recorded here. In a recent issue we invited your attention to the Congress review of some NSF Teacher Education and curriculum development activities. Congress won. No money has been budgeted for Teacher Centered Programs. After having worked in these types of activities most every year since 1960, I view the decisions with mixed emotions. It was the conclusion of our staff that we did some good in these progr~ms. I visited many exparticipants in their schools, talked with their colleagues and administrators, as well as students and found general up-grading of teaching and learning. However, we never really knew for there was never enough money for sophisticated evaluation of us or our participants. On the negative side, we find a real lack of enthusiasm by teachers and administrators to support programs. The new guidelines required school district involvement. Administrators gave only lip service to that involvement. While good teachers still do good work, we find an increasing number who do shoddy work. Some lack skills and are ready to improve. Some lack basic information and are ready to learn. But those are things we can say about all of us. What is the problem, then? Many lack the drive in teaching to pin their students on problems. They accept any kind of answer students give (apparently so the psyche of the student will not be impaired).