In 1990 one of our sons took a two week trip to France. While in France he had the opportunity to attend school for one week. Upon his return to Fayette we asked our son what the French schools were like.

His response: "I felt like the dumb American; kids my age are learning their third or fourth language. They are ahead of me in math and they work harder."

I was not educated in this country and have a great deal of difficulty understanding why the Fayette County Schools feel it is their job to implement social skills and teach manners. If manners are not taught in the home and the child is rude or disruptive, send them home until the behavior improves. Behavior modification is the job of parents.

If a child is taught the academic basics of reading, writing and arithmetic all other subjects will come easier. Reading really is the most basic fundamental educational need. If a child cannot read well (that means to read and comprehend that which has been read), he or she is not able to master any other subject. If you really want to help a child's self-esteem, don't give them an A, teach them to earn it.

Why do the Japanese and European students out-score American students every time? I believe the answer is discipline. The ethic of hard work that most American children seem to feel is beneath them.

The evidence that Americans are academically lazy can be seen in the SAT scores of the present generation compared to that of their parents.

Here in Fayette County we nullify the SAT scores by teaching an SAT class, a luxury neither available nor needed a generation ago.

Children will rise to the level of the expectation placed before them. To say our children are not capable of attaining scores equal to those of their Japanese and European counterparts is to sell our boys and girls short.

To say that our educational system is not capable of teaching our children to attain higher scores is, I believe, closer to the point. Schools, don't try to be parents; try to be teachers of academics. The results may surprise you.