Letter: Good teachers reach poor students

I was dismayed by the letter " 'Good' teachers in 'bad' schools" [Sept. 13], and I found it insulting to both teachers and students. Committed, creative teachers certainly can make a difference for children stuck in poverty and in underperforming schools.

The letter writer's answer appears to be to give up on those kids, who are essentially cast as hopeless, and their parents stereotyped as uncaring roadblocks. Rather than try to make a difference in overcoming the faults of the education system and the impacts of deprivation and discrimination, teachers, the writer suggests, should take the easy way out and go to schools where they are less inconvenienced and less needed. Otherwise, she predicts, they are destined to quit or become "bad" themselves.

Let us hope instead for teachers who are crusaders, who believe that all children have potential that can be reached.

Alan M. Weber, Medford

Editor's note: The writer is assistant professor of early childhood education at Suffolk County Community College.