Editor, Times-Union: Recently, it seems as though the teachers and staff of WCHS have been under constant scrutiny. Letters to the Editor of the Times-Union have stereotyped our teachers as adults who constantly use profanity, who touch and harass students in inappropriate ways, who judge kids unfairly, and these authors have even claimed that the teacher's word is always taken over the student's when their alleged deeds come to the attention of the administration.
As a senior, I have attended WCHS for four years now and I can honestly say that these situations, that the parental authors claim occur on a daily basis, are few and far between. After talking to some of my peers, it seems that their encounters with teachers swearing is usually the same scenario in which I have witnessed it. Most commonly the curse is an accident that is followed by an apology and even this innocent blunder occurs on rare occasions. As for harassment of the students, the occurrence of this is scarce and is usually taken care of by the administration in a timely fashion. And as for the administration always favoring the teacher's word over the student's, this is completely untrue. There have been numerous occasions I can recall, when a student in one of my classes is disrespectful and insubordinate, but when the teacher does finally send them to the office, they soon return with a smug grin and a slap on the wrist.
The fact is that I have seen teachers publicly chastised in the hallways by administrators and no one is taking their part or writing Letters to the Editor when this happens. Instead the teachers take their licks and have remained professional. To assume that the teachers believe they are in any way above the law is ignorant. Too many times I have sat and listened to students who do nothing but complain. They blame teachers for their grades, they whine about this school and its facilities, but they never consider what they could do to improve the situation. Students never say, "I could have studied harder, I should have been more respectful to my teacher, and yes, this school has its problems, but what did I do to contribute to them."
I have had the opportunity to travel to different schools in Indiana and talk to students in different school systems, and I can honestly say that I feel privileged to attend WCHS. Not only do we have top notch facilities, but I feel that we have top of the line faculty. Of all the teachers I have had, no matter if I like them or not, I have learned a valuable life lesson from them all. The teachers of WCHS care about their students and they continue to do a great job even after they have been ridiculed.
As a student, when I read these letters and the recent article in the April/May issue of "Tracks," I was offended. Many of these teachers have been thrown into a stereotype that was concocted by an angry student, and thus they were unfairly judged. As students of WCHS, we should all be offended by these slanderous remarks on our teachers, who for many of us, are our support systems, our mentors and even friends.
Jessy Prater Claypool
Haines Says Thanks
Editor, Times-Union: I want to thank all of the people who supported me as Kosciusko County Democrat Party Chairman for the past several years. Many of these people have also become great friends that have stood with me in good and bad times and I will forever be grateful for their help and kindness.
Mike Miner wrote a very nice letter about me and I want to thank Mike and support his saying that two parties are needed to keep our government strong and true. No party, whichever one, left alone can be good for the people.
Again, thanks to all of you for your support and help, and I hope you will do as much for Frances Head as she takes on the enormous responsibility of keeping our party growing in the years ahead.
