Former teacher urges a 'Yes' vote to drop MCAS grad requirement
In response to the Oct. 13 letter from Ed Lambert, who wrote on behalf of the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education : The elimination of MCAS testing would not mean that students would not have an effective, robust education.
For Mr. Lambert to assume that eliminating the MCAS requirement would mean the "lowering (of) our educational standards" is absurd. MCAS is a test; not a curriculum! What would end is "teaching to the test". Eliminating MCAS would not mean that students would not be provided support in our schools, and it would not mean that students needing help would be "abandoned."
Without MCAS, our hard-working teachers can return to the important "teachable moments," rooted in teaching critical and creative thinking skills and allowing hard-working, dedicated teachers, so many of whom I had the privilege of working alongside for 27 years, to do what they do best — teach students, rather than teach to a test. Please vote Yes on Question 2.
Diane MandevilleMarstons Mills(retired Barnstable teacher)
The Kennedy Tree, Friendship, and Bangladesh
“I don’t think you can hug that,” one of my students called as I embraced the massive trunk of a banyan.“An unhuggable tree?” I replied, incredulous.
It was February 2023, and I was accompanying 12 Barnstable High School students on a trip to Bangladesh , part of a youth sports diplomacy program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State .
Three months earlier, a dozen Bangladeshi teens visited us in Hyannis. They told stories of their homeland — its food, celebrations, and chaotic traffic.
Dhaka, with 10 million residents and 12 million more nearby , is the world’s most densely populated urban area. Despite the gridlocked roads, Bangladesh bursts with life — bright hues in clothing, flowers everywhere, and art that honors history and dreams of the future.
Bangladesh grew from imperial rule, natural disasters, language suppression, civil disobedience, genocide, and armed rebellion.
Students at every school we visited were so proud of their country, so eager to welcome us to their home. The freshness of democracy was beautiful to see.
On our third day we visited a school in the slums of Dhaka. Small shops lined the pothole filled streets, crowded further by vendors selling fish, fruit, and vegetables from wooden carts.
“The kids shared their goals,” recounted one student. “They were so positive, even though they knew their path would be hard.”
I stepped back from the mighty tree, glancing around anxiously. A tall young man with a backpack approached me.
“Where are you from?” he asked. I was relieved he didn’t look angry.
“The U.S.A.,” I replied. “Our school is near where the Kennedys live.” I gestured at the tree.
“Really?” A broad smile spread across his face. “This is the Kennedy Tree!”
In the early hours of March 25, 1971, the Pakistani army encircled the university campus, seen as a hotbed for the independence movement. Five hundred professors and students were murdered and the mighty banyan tree, Bawt Tawla, long a place for gatherings on the campus, was blown up .
The Nixon administration quietly ignored the massacre. Pakistan was their ally.
Sen. Ted Kennedy was outraged. Upon receiving a telegram detailing the violence, he appealed to the State Department to act. In August 1971, he visited India, met refugees, and heard stories of the horrors across the border. Kennedy then secured a bipartisan Senate resolution banning arms sales to Pakistan.
The American public responded too. They protested and pressured politicians. The Concert for Bangladesh in New York City raised $12 million for refugees. Alan Ginsberg and Joan Baez wrote poems and songs. Finally, the Nixon administration yielded and recognized the new country, independent in 1971.
Ted Kennedy visited Bangladesh in 1972 and planted a new tree in place of the one blown up — hence its name.This summer, student-led protests toppled an increasingly authoritarian leader, Sheikh Hasina.Let the United States be inspired by Ted Kennedy and again support Bangladesh, a beautiful democratic nation in the midst of transition and growth.
Jeremy Shea is a history teacher at Barnstable High School
Protect the Cape's aquifer: Stop using pesticides, lawn products
Above an aquifer we have a great responsibility, why wait until problems occur before shifting habits harmful to drinking water? Living on Cape Cod we are very fortunate to be able to have drinking water directly below us! When I turn the water on in my home, it is drawn from a well that is 20 feet below. Town water is drawn from the same ‘water lens’ but has a deeper pipe, usually two hundred feet or more into the lens of water . These lenses are convex, thus the name, there are six of them on Cape Cod, five are drinkable. The US EPA designated Cape Cod’s groundwater as a sole-source aquifer in 1982, meaning it is recharged solely by precipitation; rain and snow, around 27 inches a year.
The sandbar we live on is highly permeable, susceptible to contamination from development and land management products. The need to better balance local human impact affects requires planning for future water supplies to last. Whom makes purchasing decisions for your loved ones has major responsibility, the key to bettering the natural resources that surround us.
Leaders of the Cape’s town departments, please take on the task of creating more regulations to better protect our greatest natural resources on Cape Cod. Make important decisions and take action today. Why wait for years of study? When will we connect the dots that every product used outside moves? My ask for us all is to create a more united front to protect precious drinking water we rely on daily here.
Is it fair for some of us to be able to use chemicals that are obviously toxic to our local waters over time?
For the neighbor targeting their yard with a pesticide, know the product you apply travels in the air, and the soil, and water, too. There is no way every drop is being consumed by the target. That means it continues on doing harm along its pathway. The problem with pesticides is, they are made to kill and they don’t discriminate - they can’t make the distinction of what to kill or when. For example, the person who chooses to use a rodenticide to kill mice, know it could be consumed by a larger bird like a hawk, or owl, or eagle, killing the larger bird also. Wild Care in Eastham proves this. These are called unintended consequences. We don’t intend to kill the hawk but it’s happening. And this behavior needs to stop!
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” Maya Angelou. Once you gain knowledge then use that awareness to improve behavior. Once you read this article, now you know better.
Neighbors are affecting neighbors and the natural resources we all rely on because nature has no boundaries. Our habits can shift lessening product impact seeping into the water lenses we draw from daily.
Laura KelleyNorth Eastham
This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Opinion/Letters: Former teacher calls for 'yes' vote on question to drop MCAS requirement
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