The Dilemmas of Education

* Andrea Hecht’s “hip shot” (Commentary, May 2) caught me in the shoulder.

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t recall a more sensitive, child-focused public school system than today’s. Although much of this recollection is selective memory and the result of limited perspective, there is validity to this perception.

Yes, there was a time when teachers:

* Literally “worked for food.”

* Came to work early, stayed late and tutored through their lunch break.

* Were held in high esteem by parents and students.

* Came into the profession because they loved children and enjoyed watching them learn and grow.

In my 25 years with the Los Angeles Unified School District, I have seen the district grow and change. I have seen energetic, enthusiastic and imaginative young teachers come into this field and very soon become disenchanted and overwhelmed by the overcrowded classes and paucity of appropriately earmarked funds.

When I hear a parent attack teachers by accusing them of using students as pawns, I can easily see why teaching is now ranked near the bottom of most-desirable-career lists.

Children are a delicate and vulnerable product. If you worked for General Motors, nobody would accuse you of holding a Buick hostage to your demands for better wages and working conditions.

CHARLES W. DIGGS

Calabasas