We need to reassure the Fayette parents who are concerned about the "new education" plan of superintendent-elect John DeCotis.

With due respect to Mr.DeCotis and the authors of the literature in question, good teachers from one-room schools and down through the ages have used all those good methods and successfully educated doctors, scientists, presidents....

Like grandma's prized recipes compiled in a modern cookbook, educators and psychologists are compiling the tried-and-true methods of teaching for the benefit of our students.

School is not jail, it is daily life for our young people. Like horses led to water, we cannot force them to learn what we pour out. Good mental health, positive self-image, good interpersonal skills, all make students more receptive to the subject matter being taught.

But fear not, those values are not being taught instead of academics. Rather the academic subjects are being taught within the framework of the values.

When former students tell you ten years later that their favorite teacher was Mr. or Ms. Whatever, you may rest assured that teacher reached that student in a special program which helped him/her to appreciate self, consider others, value academics, while seeing the relationships in education, health, industry, government, arts, and view the whole progressive picture in a positive manner.

All Mr. DeCotis is trying to do is encourage teachers to "go for it!"

I taught in Georgia public schools for 30 years and was a principal for eight years. I am now proud to be a substitute teacher here in Fayette County.