Young Teachers Face Grown-Up Realities

Re “Young Teachers Walk Thin Line,” July 3: While providing a generally upbeat view of novice teachers at LAUSD middle and high schools, the article skirted some very serious issues about teacher responsibilities. There is no “thin line” between teachers and students; it’s a chasm, and bridges can’t be built through friendship. New teachers soon realize this when, near the end of the semester, they must give report cards to their students. Students earning a poor grade may -- and do feel -- betrayed by the person they thought was a “cool buddy.”

Teachers who ask students to write essays on “what they know” aren’t challenging them very much. To be truly effective during a professional career, teachers must earn respect through knowledge of subject matter, expectation standards of student performance and objectivity. It wouldn’t hurt if they dressed as role models. Surely young teachers must be aware that their friends who became attorneys aren’t going to court wearing backward baseball caps and baggy jeans. I lament the neglect of the idea that both students and teachers should look to school as a place where they should “dress for success.”

Abraham Hoffman

(retired LAUSD teacher)

Canoga Park