To the editor:

Recently I have read many articles with great interest concerning Proposition 21âÑ2 in several North Shore communities. It appears that there are many people out there who feel the answer to any educational problem is to appropriate more money and hire more help, upgrade buildings, etc.; and if that isn't done, the children will be poorly educated and unable to attend college.

I was educated in the Peabody public school system (eight years at the Brown School and four years at Peabody High School) more than 50 years ago. I don't believe that I ever had a class with fewer than 30 students, with the norm around 35.

Our classes had one teacher. There were no teachers' aides, etc. Each of the elementary schools had one custodian and he took care of the coal-fired furnaces, disposed of the ashes, shoveled the walks, repaired broken windows, oiled the floors and became a friend to every kid in the school.

By today's standards, I guess that I received a substandard, underprivileged education. However, somehow I was able to go on and receive engineering degrees and an MBA degree. Many of my peers did about the same and have served the local residents as doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, etc. Today I see many teens who cannot calculate the sales tax on a purchase of a simple item in their head, nor can they show me where Idaho is on a map or tell me the location and significance of Pearl Harbor or Omaha Beach. I read that instead of being educated, they are being taught how to score well on the MCAS tests.

Teachers in my time concerned themselves only with the education of the children and not union activities, etc., as some do today.

Parents were a big part of education in those days and were the "teachers' aides" of that time. If you had trouble in school the last thing you would do is to tell your parents, as that resulted in you having troubles at home. Parents backed the teachers 100 percent rather than suing them as is often the case today.

Rather than building on the previous year's budget, I would like to see some area school board start with a "zero-based" budget (start from scratch) and a complete curriculum review with an eye to eliminating courses that have found their way in over the years for no good reason. I believe that an education stressing the three R's was then and still is the best education for our children. We must look carefully at courses that were introduced and funded for a year or two by the state and are being continued for perpetuity.

I am greatly in favor of funding for regional vocational schools as an alternative to the regular public schools. They should include, but not duplicate, many of the courses now taught in the public schools.

In summary, I believe that money and Proposition 21âÑ2 overrides are not the answer to our problems, but careful review and carefully considered changes are.

Gerald T. Carey

Peabody