Regarding: Steve Krueger’s comments on teacher accountability (“Our schools, teachers should be accountable”, Auburn Reporter, Sept. 5):

I was at age 27 assistant manager of a store that did $2 million of business each year. Of course, I was held accountable for our sales and accounts receivable.

I believed students would be more interesting than farm supplies, so I resigned from the business world and joined the teaching profession. I taught 30 years in the junior high and high school world, and 19 years in the senior center world.

There is a way to recognize teacher excellence. Test each group at the beginning of the year and then test the same group at the end of the year. This would indicate the effectiveness of the teaching.

One problem with group testing is that some individuals refuse to take the test seriously. Test results of these students would somehow be eliminated.

To have an excellent school, you need a school like the private ones Bill Gates and President Obama send their children to. These schools have small classes, excellent and well paid teachers, excellent classroom books, materials, supplies and programs, excellent facilities, effective parental help with homework and PTA support.

I graduated from Whitman College, which had all of the above characteristics. Whitman costs $48,000 a year. Whitman does have scholarships for students.

An elementary school with all of the above advantages costs an estimated $15,000 a year and up. I do not believe taxpayers would be willing to pay for such a school. Today special levies must be passed to provide basic education in public schools.

After teaching for 49 years and earning a master’s in political science and a doctorate in education and receiving excellent evaluations, one of my high school students gave me my best evaluation. I told my students of my retirement, and he said, “You will be back, Dr. Valentine, you love it here.”

I did not go back, but I was glad that he felt that way about my teaching.

– Dr. Harold B. Valentine