Well, well, well, did Ms. Leitner’s letter hit the nail on the head (Feb. 13, “How to make the rest of this school year worthwhile? Skip it.”)! She was so right on!
I have been saying all along in this terrible time of children having to miss indoor school, all of the soothsayers moaning and groaning how our children are going to wind up so far behind in their studies, how emotionally tainted they will become, that I finally have to tell the world, “You are not giving our youngsters credit enough to be just fine” – and this will not taint them in the least.
The worst that may happen is they will perhaps graduate at nineteen instead of eighteen. Give this generation some credit for being much more resourceful than you can imagine.
Yes, it is challenging, however Leitner gives us come common sense advice on how the children can learn: reading, hiking, learning about their neighborhoods, talking to their parents and grandparents about events in their lives and oh my gosh, television. The younger generation are going to fool all of us. No math, OK, not a disaster to miss a year of algebra, or geometry, or even addition and division.
During WWII, I missed the second half of first grade and the second half of second grade, and the new school I was enrolled in put me right in the third grade – and I caught up in quick time. The same thing with my husband: He missed a year of school because of an illness and so he graduated at nineteen. No loss; in fact, it gave him a better start with his career in a trade school.
My point is, don’t underestimate our children, especially in this day and age, with all the technology we have. They will be fine.
Pat AkersBayfield
