North High teacher
I am writing in response to Mr. Herrick's Jan. 13 letter to the editor about the "nightmarish," "harrowing" experience he had at North High School. I am one of his former students. I don't understand how he could call us lazy when he had us watching movies instead of doing work the whole semester. Also, he says he broke up over a dozen fights. To be honest, he broke up no more than three. He also witnessed another fight and did nothing to break it up. It makes me made that he said we don't care when he didn't take the time to find out how much we did care. If this school is so bad, why did he stay here for the whole semester? Why didn't he bail on us sooner? We never once talked about dropping out, like Mr. Herrick said. If we wanted to drop out, why were we coming to his class in the first place?
Alyssa Wiggins
Student, North High School
This letter has not been edited.
"He had us watching movies instead of doing work". How can anyone believe this broad generalization? When you beat your head against the wall and get nothing but blood for your effort, what are you gonna do?
"He broke up no more than three (fights)". How could this student possibly know this unless she was at his side at all times?
"Why did he stay here for the whole semester?" I'm amazed he could LAST for a whole semester, given his particular experience.
I'm sure these observation seem correct to this student, but she can't speak to the motivations and experience of this teacher. Teachers HAVE been made the scapegoats of the public schools, and the lack of support we feel from parents and the public is demoralizing. I'm glad this letter writer is apparently a good, hard-working student who feels pride for her school, but she simply cannot logically criticize this teacher simply because her own experience has been different.
Posted by Tom on January 24, 2007 06:12 AMHow many Rocky Mountain News readers who feel compelled to sound off about our school and our district have actually been inside our building? How many of you have observed even one class?
Then why do you feel the need to share your simple-minded, uninformed views with the public?
How many of you read W. L. Herrick's Jan. 13 letter to editor in which he characterized North as "harrowing" and "nightmarish," and DPS as "medieval?"
It's funny, but I've looked everywhere, and I have yet to find a thumbscrew or a rack, or a water torture chamber. The Spanish Inquisition was "harrowing"; North is a place where students come to learn. Yes, I know it's surprising to many of you, but students at North actually take an interest in their education.
We all know our situation at North is far from perfect. We can't go a single day without being reminded of that fact in the local news and print media.
And then we have to read the whining of an erudite snob who felt that teaching students at North was beneath him, who couldn't make it through a single year, and then harpooned his former students by laying the blame for North's problems at their feet. That makes sense, right? Blame a group of 14- and 15-year-olds who just started high school for a district-wide problem that predated their births. Brilliant.
You have the right to voice your opinions on this page, and so do my students. And they have EVERY right to respond to criticism leveled at them by someone who wasn't willing to put forth the effort required to engage them, quit on them, and quit on the school after one semester.
Daniel Patterson, English teacher, Denver North High School
Tom - As you may be aware, kids talk. Alyssa knows, as well as anyone, how many fights there were. She doesn't need to be by his side. All she needs is the grapevine.
Daniel - Bravo.
Posted by Paul Crossland on January 25, 2007 09:55 AMI'm glad to read that such a garbage teacher is gone after only a semester. I had a "teach by movie" teacher in high school, and his class was one of the biggest wastes of time in my entire life. Maybe this is just my view, but I don't think "lazy" student write in to the local newpaper with their opinions. I hope that North students get a good teacher as a replacement, one who engages their clear motivation to learn.
Posted by on January 25, 2007 12:23 PMTo Representatives Pelosi, Murtha, and Perlmutter:
Imagine the following scenario if you will.
The local fire department responds to a six alarm fire and arrives to see a multi-level apartment complex engulfed in flames with occupants crying for help from the windows. The brave fire fighters feeling duty and compassion surge forward into the inferno to rescue the hapless victims and to defeat the spreading menace that threatens the neighborhood and the city. Then, in the midst of the calamity when the entire mission hangs in the balance, a band of local public officials shuts down the water main at its source incapacitating the firefighter’s hydrants. Crowds gathered beyond the barriers watch in horror the catastrophic outcome of the officials’ action. Disbelieving firefighters are overwhelmed with heat as they are suddenly disarmed and pressed into disorganized retreat. Men and women with clothing on fire throw their children from the balconies and then jump to their own death in desperation. The unchecked raging fire quickly engulfs the building as perplexed but determined firefighters die trying to save the victims. Encouraged by the prevailing winds, the fire skips nimbly across the rooftops to the neighborhood and to the city beyond incinerating everything in its path. The guilty panicked officials rush to the cameras and desperately begin to accuse the Mayor and the Fire Marshall, saying that they should never have engaged us in such a hopeless rescue and containment action. The firefighters were not deceived. They harbor a sullen rage for the loss of firefighters and innocent life suffered at the hand of self serving bureaucrats. The city was not deceived. It was obvious by the officials own threats that they intended to deliberately close the water main during the malaise. As citizens’ own homes became victimized by the inferno, they demand the removal of the pompous officials and call for accountability for their actions. History was not deceived. It records their despicable act as cowardly treason and the high water mark of the city’s prosperity and security.
While one might consider the officials’ actions in this story as asinine, they are no more incredulous than those who press a resolution in the Capitol with the intent of drying up the resources of those fighting an enemy that threatens our nation and the civilized world. There will be no spinning this into a victory with damage control media. There will be no escaping the wrath of a betrayed constituency shamed before the world for our inconsistency and gullibility. There will only be history and infamy. Choose your actions carefully.