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Editor:
I feel the need to respond to the letter written by Chris Walden-Jonesabout comparing U.S. and foreign schools ("Comparing U.S. and foreign schools unfair because of selection policies," Thursday). According to Ms. or Mrs.Walden-Jones we cannot fairly compare U.S. and foreign schools because of selection policies. Walden-Jones writes "This selection process eliminates (segregates) a segment of the population the country feels is not worth education," what a bunch of BS. Walden-Jones has obviously not researched this topic very well. In other countries, such as my native country, the Netherlands, every student gets the opportunity to receive an education.
However, unlike here in the U.S., other countries realize that not all students have the same abilities and that we should not keep all students together in the same setting. In my country one can "choose" among different types of high schools (middle schools are incorporated in high schools), a six year school for the more intelligent students, a five year school for the less intelligent, and several four year schools for the least intelligent. However, after one graduates from any of these high schools post-high-school education opportunities are available, and many students will use these opportunities to further educate themselves. Thus nobody is eliminated from the education process! Only when one graduates from the six year high school can one attend a university. It then takes a four-year program to receive a degree equivalent to a master's degree. If one graduates from a five-year high school one has several options available to them, one can continue on to a so called 'higher education' school where in four years one will earn a bachelor's degree. But one can also stream into the six-year high school, and start in thefifth year, so that one can eventually attend a university also. To try to explain the whole educational system in the Netherlands would take up too much time, but I extend an invitation to Walden-Jones to come talk to me and I will take an hour of my time to explain the system.
The main conclusion is that in the Netherlands we do not believe that everybody should be attending the same high school, we should distinguish between intelligence levels and then give everybody the opportunity to educate themselves. I believe that the problem in the U.S. is that everybody should be given an opportunity to attend a university, but not everybody has the intelligence level for that and thus should there be more post secondary education opportunities for those individuals that cannot attend a university.
Last but not least, one major part of the problem is the people's negative perception towards students from community colleges or educational institutions such as Tucson college. Once prejudices against students of these institutions have disappeared can we start building a better education system in the U.S.!
Roelant Verbeek
Graduate Instructor/Associate
Department of Economics Adjunct Faculty,
Pima Community College
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