Letters

MAKING A BETTER STUDENT

"High student achievement is accomplished with nurturing from the home and enrichment by constant use of library cards!" RUTH JEAN SHAW Anchorage

Thank you, TIME, for getting it right in your articles on how to make a better student [SPECIAL REPORT, Oct. 19]. As an educator, I'm sure I speak for others in my profession in saying parents who emphasize and foster learning at home ultimately have kids who perform at a higher level in class. School systems have been trying to get that message out for years. Imagine, excellent teachers working with students who have a drive and desire to learn. Utopia! CHARLES SWECKER Valley Head, W.Va.

The only person who can make a better student is that student. The students you profiled have positive attitudes, initiative and motivation; they expect to work hard on their own. Consequently, the effort they put in produces positive results. My sons see their parents read. They were read to at home. We've encouraged and praised the genuine efforts they've made. But the bottom line for my sons is that until something ignites them from within, they are content to do as little work as possible. SANDY SIMONSON Jacksonville, Fla.

Success in school is student driven? It depends on the individual student's desire to learn? No, no, no! Everybody knows that success in school comes from megamillion-dollar tax levies, self-esteem classes, antidrug programs, smaller class sizes and more school psychologists and counselors. Persistence and hard work indeed! BEVERLEY SEITER Redmond, Wash.

Parents should do these things to make their child a better student: turn off the television. Fill every room (yes, even the bathroom) with books, magazines and newspapers. Play, read, cook, read, travel, read and then read some more with your kids. If reading becomes the primary form of entertainment in the home, youngsters will turn to books. My best moments were when the kids were naughty and told they could not read. Ahh, the pleasure of catching them "sneak reading." Killing our television was the best thing we ever did. BRIDGET BOYLE Corona, Calif.

Your report provided a glimpse into the life of budding geniuses, but nobody made these kids better students--they were born that way. Each one is self-motivated and can obviously grasp any task at hand. Each could have been left in a box with a book and would have ended up self-taught. You did, however, confirm my belief that most teachers are only capable of imparting information to ready-made A and B students. Of course, there are a few good teachers, but they cannot overcome the inept system we have. After nine years of watching my dyslexic son feel dumber and dumber, I am taking him out of a system of neglect and home-schooling him. DEBORAH CURTIN Long Beach, N.Y.

I don't think that the success of students really depends on marks. I just finished writing my second average-length stage play, which is going to be produced at my high school. And I'm also playing Malcolm in a production of Macbeth. Despite all these really great things, my marks in school are really bad, and I mean really, really bad. I pay more attention to my hobbies than to school, and it's actually getting me somewhere. So marks aren't everything. ALAN HOLMAN, age 17 Saskatoon, Sask.

Gee, I wish my parents had been able to read your article on how to make a better student 16 years ago. If they had read it, who knows? I might now have a chance of going to Harvard. ANDY CHI, age 16 Paramus, N.J.

Many have suggested that most of what goes on in schools is a meaningless waste of time. Meanwhile, 99% of children, both rich and poor, have, with enthusiasm and efficiency, but without any formal teaching, taught themselves to speak their native tongue. And then in schools, they are forced to memorize and regurgitate and are certified by the rigid, demeaning, coercive, boring pseudo-academic institutions they attend. A few schools, by using only interesting material like newspapers, games, comic books, art, music and talk, have shown us how to stop schooling and start educating. They've eliminated formal assessment, stopped quizzing and pushed basic skills. ROBERT E. KAY Philadelphia

The exceptional students featured in your article are that, exceptional. Just as some people are exceptional as artists or athletes, others are best at scholastics. These kids do not need a perfect setting at home to achieve high honors, they were born with scholastic ability. PAUL C. BROWN Warminster, Pa.

DIFFERENT KINDS OF INTELLIGENCE

Every teacher needs to remember Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences when planning lessons and attempting to meet diverse learning styles in the classroom. Gardner's idea that we each have separate intellectual capacities provides a richer and more satisfying experience for my students. Gone are the days of simply lecturing in front of the class, although, tragically, many educators still follow that path. Gardner is invited to see the positive results of his theory in my classroom at any time. You made me wonder if the IQ-test manufacturers feel threatened by MI. JENNIFER REAM SHAF Arvada, Colo.

As the creator of the theory of multiple intelligences mentioned in your article "Seven Kinds of Smart," I would like to respond. You noted that so far my discussion of the different intelligences as routes to understanding important topics has been general. In The Well-Disciplined Mind, to be published next spring, I develop three examples of such understanding--the theory of evolution, the music of Mozart, and the Holocaust--in exacting detail. You noted my hesitation to claim that multiple-intelligence schools have succeeded. In fact, dozens of MI schools have reported higher test scores and other benefits. However, as a researcher I know how difficult it is to prove that such benefits are due specifically to MI ideas or practices. I should have thought I would be respected rather than penalized for this conservative stance. In due course, the validity of the theory of separate intellectual capacities will be judged by scientists, its utility by educators. I am optimistic about their verdicts. HOWARD GARDNER, Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education Graduate School of Education Harvard University Cambridge, Mass.

We owe thanks to Howard Gardner. His accessible writings have made it easy for the layperson to understand what psychologists have known for decades--that our intellect is more than our IQ. We should also consider the work of outstanding social scientist Mary Meeker, who publishes intellect-boosting tests, workbooks and software. Since 1996 our firm has provided the Meeker model to almost 150 schools serving more than 60,000 youngsters. These schools have documented statistically significant increases in academic achievements. By developing intellectual strength and stamina, students increase their mental power and endurance--whether they are learning math, the grammar of English or other languages, how to read music, run a four-cylinder engine, program a computer or balance a ledger. By strengthening our students' thinking abilities today, we can enrich their lives tomorrow. WILLIAM E. BROCK, Chairman Intellectual Development Systems, Inc. Annapolis, Md.

Howard Gardner, along with other education gurus, deserves a large amount of the blame for the low achievement of public school students. Teachers take a shred of truth--in Gardner's case, that students have different aptitudes and learning styles--and manipulate it into the absurd, so that students build boats instead of reading and writing about European settlers. These education theorists have replaced knowledge with process, phonics with whole language, merit with relevance and rigor with self-esteem. As a teacher who plans to retire soon, I shudder to think what the future holds for our youth if these college-of-education charlatans continue to reign. JOHANNA HAVER Phoenix, Ariz.

Multiple intelligence is a philosophy more than a learning style. It "sees" the whole child, it understands that we process information in many different ways, it ultimately honors diversity--something this world must embrace if we are going to survive. LAURA DISTARCE San Dimas, Calif.

CONSIDER SINGLE-SEX EDUCATION

Your article "Beyond The Gender Myths" [SPECIAL REPORT, Oct. 19] quotes an educator who imagines that a Utopia can be created in which "sexual stereotypes don't shape education." This assumes that gender influences on parents, teachers, peer groups, media and writers about the subject of education have disappeared and that academic skills and interests are now present in pristine condition. As everyone knows, we have not yet reached this state. Single-sex education works because it gives girls a few valuable years in which to recover confidence and feel that they can make a difference in a culture that is still dominated by male thinking. JEANNIE NORRIS, Head of School Miss Hall's School Pittsfield, Mass.

THE IMPEACHMENT PROCESS

If Bill Clinton serves out his term [CLINTON'S CRISIS, Oct. 19], he will have defended the presidency from the dragons of gossip, the wiles of wannabes and the lapses into bad behavior on the part of folks who elected him in 1996--who really don't want the government messing around in their consensual pleasures any more than you do. ED ROSELENE Rochester, N.Y.

This is not about privacy or human nature, Republican or Democratic ideals. It is an issue of right and wrong. DAYNA NOSSE Butler, Pa.

FINALLY, A REAL HERO

Hustler publisher Larry Flynt is offering a reward of up to $1 million to anyone who can prove having "an adulterous sexual encounter with a current member of the U.S. Congress or a high-ranking government official" [PUBLIC EYE, Oct. 19]. I do not appreciate the Republican Party's attempt to fool the American people into believing the G.O.P. is seeking "justice" when advocating the impeachment of President Clinton. Please. The G.O.P.'s pursuit of political gain is irritating, and its lack of creativity is downright insulting. Flynt seems like the only person trying to get to the truth. BRANDY DUFF New Castle, Colo.

Who are the morally superior people who are castigating Clinton? It's too bad Flynt's target is limited to high-level government officials. It should include everyone in the U.S. Then let's see how long the ballyhoo lasts. MARCIA GIRARDI Washington

EFFECTS OF HEPATITIS-B VACCINE

Your article on the increase in vaccinations against hepatitis B [PERSONAL TIME: YOUR HEALTH, Sept. 28] was one-sided. Reports of serious problems with the hepatitis-B vaccine have been mounting for years. In 1994 the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences noted the absence of controlled observational or clinical trials to evaluate repeated reports that hepatitis-B vaccine can cause Guillain-Barre syndrome, arthritis, transverse myelitis, optic neuritis, multiple sclerosis and other diseases of the central nervous system. Readers of TIME deserve balanced information. GERHARD F. BEDDING Keene, N.H.

Control of hepatitis B by vaccination is of global importance, but it is often neglected or misunderstood, particularly in developed countries. However, you were wrong to say hepatitis B in infants usually occurs before birth. It occurs around the time of delivery. Less than 3% of babies born to carrier mothers get the infection before birth. In Taiwan, we have repeatedly shown the high efficacy in preventing the infection after vaccinating the newborn babies of hepatitis-B carrier mothers, and there has been an 85% decrease of hepatitis-B infection in the vaccinated babies. DING-SHINN CHEN, M.D., Director Hepatitis Research Center National Taiwan University Hospital Taipei

HERITAGE OF THE TAINO

It was gratifying to read about the ancient Taino people of the Caribbean, who were destroyed in the wake of Columbus, and the recent discovery of remains of their dwellings and artifacts [ARCHAEOLOGY, Oct. 19]. However, I was concerned by your statement that "just about all that remains of their culture is the handful of Taino words that survive in modern English." Since when is the English dictionary the barometer for measuring the survival rate of cultures? In any case, you failed to list the large number of words and names of Taino or Arawak provenance in usage among the multilingual peoples of the present-day Caribbean. I fear the Taino once again have been "erased from the face of the earth." And the ways, traditions, practices and beliefs of a significant part of the population of the Americas have been relegated to the ranks of the ignoble and the irrelevant. Shame on you! JOSE F. BUSCAGLIA-SALGADO, Director Cuban and Caribbean Programs State University of New York at Buffalo Buffalo, N.Y.

While it may take another century to fully understand the Taino culture, it should not take as long to eradicate the myth of Columbus as a hero. HALLEY ALLEN Holden, Mass.

SAINTHOOD FOR EDITH STEIN

Edith Stein was born a Jew, became a Catholic and a Carmelite nun and died in Auschwitz [RELIGION, Oct. 19]. You noted that Stein's canonization by Pope John Paul II "strikes some as the hijacking of a martyr, the usurping of Jewish tragedy for Catholic purposes." But the flap over "who gets the martyr" is demeaning and embarrassing to the participants, and probably would appall Stein herself. There is no reason that Jews and Catholics alike cannot honor her life and achievements. In fact, it would be a golden opportunity to celebrate the new understanding between the two groups. KERRY SULLIVAN Santa Clara, Calif.

FUNDING THE FREUD EXHIBIT

In an otherwise reasonable and informative article about the Sigmund Freud exhibition at the Library of Congress [AMERICAN SCENE, Oct. 12], you suggested that the exhibit was postponed three years ago because of protests. As in some other cases, the library was forced to postpone solely because it had not then been able to raise the funds we always seek from private sources for exhibits. Despite inaccurate media reports, there was never any doubt the Freud show would take place. The library welcomes responsible controversy about the many exhibits it mounts of its rich and varied materials. JAMES H. BILLINGTON, Librarian Library of Congress Washington

THE REAL ARTISTS

Art critic Robert Hughes praises Richard Serra's monumental "sculptures" that required "tanker technology" and steel-milled plates [ART, Oct. 19]. If Hughes wants to see large pieces of steel, put him on the subway to the outer reaches of New York harbor, where he can watch ships pass through the Verrazano Narrows. Modern art is the biggest practical joke in history, and Hughes has fallen for it. The true artists are the ironworkers and shipwrights who build today's floating monsters. GARRY JAFFE Chicago

Since when do coils of metal resembling shipyard scrap become "sculpture"? Robert Hughes has apparently shed common sense in his fanciful review of Serra's curved metal junk titled Torqued Ellipses and assumed the role of a member of a simpering claque favoring obvious nonsense. MURRAY B. STEPHENS San Antonio, Texas

YOU ARE BEING WATCHED

In his commentary on the death of privacy and the growing difficulty of hiding personal peccadilloes, "Sin in the Global Village" [ESSAY, Oct. 19], Robert Wright says the prospect of constant surveillance is terrifying. Allow me the following comment: living in London, I have become exceedingly accustomed to constant surveillance, but who watches over those who watch us? PAUL VAN ZIJL London

A MULTISYLLABIC MAN

In your "Feud Of The Week" item, you described Sylvester Stallone as a "monosyllabic actor" [PEOPLE, Oct. 19]. Look, I'm no defender nor an especially big fan of Stallone's, but you said he was considering an offer to turn his $25 (three syllables) million (two syllables) Miami (three syllables) home into a luxurious 200-room (four syllables) hotel.

Perhaps he said, "I thought I might make my house with lots of rooms in a big town that starts with an M in the state in the South that starts with an F to be a rich and nice inn," and then you reported his remarks with a few extra syllables. Why, even when acting, he would have had to say "Rocky" (two syllables), wouldn't he? STEVE WILLIS Medicine Hat, Alta.