To the editor:

Using test scores like the RICAS to compare Barrington schools with others in state and out of state, (Massachusetts in particular) does not provide a fair and clear view of how schools are doing. This makes the educational system look like a competition to be the best in statistical measurements but not necessarily in reality. 

People should be looking for an education for their children that is not totally based on how they score on a national or regional mandated test.

Students should have the chance to believe in themselves, to take responsibility for their education, the knowledge gained and the acumen to use it in order to thrive in the real world hopefully when entering into it. Instead of giving some the illusion of being the best and brightest, give them the respect for learning. Give them history of the past and the present that is real and important. Give them math, science, woodworking, art, music, literature, a smorgasbord of knowledge that they need to open a doorway into a new world past childhood, into the real world.

Don’t give them the illusion of always being the best and the brightest as the real world is not easy. Give them a love for learning. Give them a chance to use what they have learned for the whole of their lives in the interest of themselves and others.

Barbara Anne Flanders

Barrington