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Show ILeifiterps TTod HMffltiqDir Dear Editor: As parents of two Mueller Park Junior High students, one former and one present, we were appalled at the accusations made by "concerned parent." We have chosen to have our children attend Mueller Park, providing daily transportation for them to do so, partly because of the quality of the teachers and programs there. We will continue to support that school. Walt and Julie Busse Dear Editor: The year 1988 will be when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) will review all the information and decide the fates of Holbrook Canyon, Mueller Park Recreation Area, Mill Creek Canyon and Mill Creek Canyon watershed, Maple Hills residential area, Cave Peak, North Canyon and North Canyon residential area. . If FERC approves the 36 inch diameter high pressure natural gas pipeline, known as the Kern River Pipeline Proposal, these beautiful areas east of Bountiful will be scared and affected by the construction and operation of the pipeline during its lifetime and beyond. Some of the problems may be minor such as the dust, noise, and inconvenience associated with the construction near the Maple Hills and North Canyon residential areas. Also the recreational re-creational qualities of hiking, picnicking, outings and cross country skiing would be diminished during construction and enduring long after. Some of the problems would be major and long term. Bounti- . ful City currently owns the water rights in Holbrook and Mill Creek Canyons. Bountiful has developed the Mill Creek watershed water-shed for municipal water supply. The piepline will cross part of the Mill Creek watershed involving unstable slopes and high water erosion potential. The water treatment plant could experience increased sediments from the pipeline right of way and be forced to stop its operation from time to time. Another problem created by the pipeline would be the increased in-creased access to off road vehicles and all terrain vehicles on the right of way and access roads. Already there exist problems with parties, illegal hunting and shooting, illegal tires, and trespassing tres-passing on and near the North Canyon and Maple Hills residential residen-tial areas as well as Wasatch-Cache National Forest lands. Little has been done by Bountiful City Police, Davis County Sheriff, or Wasatch-Cache National Forest to keep offenders off public or private lands. Other problems will occur as a result of the pipeline. These include impacts to wildlife, aquatic biology, migratory birds nesting-breeding-feeding areas. Property values could change in the Maple Hills and North Canyon residential areas. The unique qualities and character of these areas may change also. If the Kern River Pipeline proposal were to become a reality, it would change the quality of life the residents and visitors of Bountiful have come to know and enjoy. Dave Brown Dear Editor: I would like to commend the faculty and staff at Mueller Park Junior High for the terrific job they do for the students of our community. Thank goodness we have teachers who understand that ages 12-15 are probably the most difficult time in growing up. Thank goodness they understand that children need to relax a little for a few days before Christmas, the one time a year they can barely sit still. Thank goodness they understand that months of hard work deserve a reward. Thank goodness they care enough to come up with simple, yet appropriate assignments during the holiday season for students who have parties and gifts on their minds, students who are counting the minutes until vacation starts. Thank goodness they give children time to begin their homework home-work in class so the teacher can give additional help to students who don't understand, while those who do can get finished. Thank goodness they allow children time for free reading so they can learn to relish this most important life skill before they begin having to delve into the more difficult and profound classical clas-sical authors covered in high school, when more students have the maturity to appreciate and understand them. So many children chil-dren hate to read; it's wonderful they are given class time to take pleasure in books they have selected themselves, at their own reading and interest levels. An enjoyment of reading will give them a willingness to tackle the required reading in later years, as well as writers such as Shakespeare, Twain, London, Steinbeck, Stein-beck, and Crane, which are introduced at Mueller Park. Thank goodness they try to get students writing more eagerly and fluently, which encourages higher-level thinking skills and intellectual growth. Thank goodness they work on writing problems prob-lems individually a little at a time, rather than destroying children's chil-dren's self-esteem with a lot of red corrections covering student papers. These teachers cover more material in a school year than is required by the state. Their students have won numerous awards each year in foreign language, math, writing and art. Thank goodness they are able to challenge and stimulate students stu-dents at the same time. After many years of association with these professionals, I have only the highest regards for their dedication, commitment, and understanding of young people and their needs. Virginia E. Riley Dear Editor: Although it is usually my practice to ignore negative behavior, be-havior, I have too much respect for myself, my colleagues, and my students to leave the anonymous letter to the editor unanswered. un-answered. A brief discussion of educational goals and evaluation evalua-tion seems more appropriate than a detailed and defensive response. re-sponse. Serving the entire public is, perhaps, a priority issue for educational institutions. Although special-needs groups, including includ-ing honor students, receive individualized programs, too many demands for attention to differences rather than concentration on similarities can prove divisive. It is, therefore, a justifiable educator goal to consider the needs of entire groups, and the importance of communal productivity is a message worth conveying con-veying to students. Evaluation of the achievement of educational goals, either as general as those mentioned above or as specific as those mentioned men-tioned elsewhere, is problematic. The innumerable tasks and infinite number of variables involved in teaching begin to become be-come apparent only after a year or two spent immersed in the job. Educators at all levels and with considerable experience and research are still unclear on precise means forjudging the constant con-stant energy and finesse required for effective teaching. One thing seems obvious, however; the goals and evaluation of education are more likely to be achieved through cooperative and productive channels than otherwise. Mary Rhodes Mueller Park Junior High Dear Editor: Recently you published a letter that had been sent to the principal of Mueller Park Jiinjer High School from a concerned parent who has several children who are students there. The letter complained about several practices of the school including includ-ing showing videos of popular movies, giving free reading time in English class, little teacher help in the rewriting of papers, lack of understanding among students of basic grammar rules, and insufficient amounts of homework. I am currently a senior at Bountiful High School who attended Mueller Park Junior High and I am familiar with the practices and teachers mentioned in the letter. I do very well in school and have a rigorous course of study, as do the children of the author of the letter. However, my experiences were apparently very different from the experiences the author's children have had. The letter mentioned that during the last week of school before Christmas vacation, several classes showed videos of popular movies in class, movies that had no relation to the subject of the class. I admit that there was probably not much learning during those periods. But even if the teachers had chosen to teach a lesson, I serously doubt there would have been much learning anyway in the few days before Christmas. A visit to almost any school in the last days before Christmas will reveal that teachers are doing well merely to keep excited students stu-dents in class. The author also decried the practice of ten minutes of free reading in English class. She wondered why the children were not exposed to the great classics of English literature, but allowed to read Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes. I am sure, however that the teacher would have absolutely no objection objec-tion to any child who wanted to read Emerson, Longfellow, Dickens, Shakespeare, Dante, or any of the classics, all readily available at the library. One of the reasons children do not have good writing grammar, gram-mar, one of the author's other complaints, is that they do not read. If a teacher can interest a child in reading any literature to begin with that child will be ready to branch out into the classics. Any teacher who can do that has my respect. And if it takes ten minutes of a junior high school English class to instill a desire to read and a love for books, it is time well spent. The author claimed that her son was bringing home only minutes of homework a week. If it is because students are not being assigned homework, I am very surprised. When I was enrolled only two and a half years ago, there were at least several hours of homework a week. Either classes have drastically drastic-ally changed, or the author's son is a very fast worker and finishes things in class, does homework his parent doesn't see, or does not do all the homework he is assigned. Perhaps if he is having trouble in English with his grammar, as his parent says he is, he should spend more than fifteen minutes rewriting his English paper, as she claimed he did. The author also claimed that the child found the ninth grade honors English teacher very inaccessible. I was amazed to read this because I had this same teacher in the same class. She spent almost every day long after school where there were often many students wanting help. No matter how many there were she stayed until the last one had been helped. She was always willing to give any help to any student who was willing to take time to talk with her. In fact, less than a month ago I needed a critique on a college admissions essay and even though I have not been a student of hers for almost three years, she was willing to help me on her own time. In the 1 1 years I have been attending public schools I have come across no teacher more dedicated than she. In addition, addi-tion, this teacher, at her own expense, keeps a large lending library of good literature for young people. If the mother who wrote the original letter is truly worried about the practices of the teachers, perhaps she should address her remarks in private to the teacher in question. I have always found the teachers at Mueller Park more than willing to help if there is a problem. Generally, this route will promote even better results than a letter to the principal, the editor of the Clipper, and the readers of Davis County. Meghan Busse ..imw.iwi. j.yggrr! -w uwnKm nmiwi miff umri |