Working Toward Real Learning

* Your article “Schools, Business Put Partnership Plan on the Table” (April 22) was as predictable as it was right.

The regional vice president of Southern California Edison, Fred Mickelson, said, “Business leaders need to tell educators the skills they need for their work force, and educators need to say, ‘We’ll produce that.’ Then businesses need to hire the students.” This is idealistic. Society demands quality labor and school supplies qualified labor.

Internship and in-school training are good programs for students because they provide a real working environment to the students.

I am majoring in economics. I worked in a bank last summer. I used what I learned from school, such as interest rates and the money market, to fulfill my job. I saw economics is not only theories but is so practical that I can use it in my daily life.

WING YEE FUNG

Irvine

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* Thank you for the information on the performance of the state’s school districts. I’m glad to see Orange County doing well.

You note that many students are turning away from the state’s public colleges and universities. You cite rising tuition and a ban on illegal immigrants in the community college system.

There is another reason--the growing perception that the university system is neglecting undergraduate education [in favor] of research and the pursuit of income-generating activities and grants. In part, the fertility scandal at UC Irvine was due to tremendous pressure on the medical clinic to generate income for the university. Faculty who bring in grants are rewarded while those who devote themselves to teaching duties are scorned.

The community has seen a tremendous financial investment in capital building projects--but these new buildings are financed primarily by quasi-private business firms located on university land.

Meanwhile, new freshmen students languish in large lecture halls of over 200, where there is no intellectual give-and-take between students and teachers. It is programmed learning of a very impersonal nature and students do not thrive in this environment.

JENNIFER MARKS

Irvine