By Staff
To the editor:
I graduated from Brandywine, along with my older sister and younger brother and have another in fourth grade at this time (he was in the class that fought back against your original artice about Brandywine being labeled as a drop-out factory).
I was originally very angry about the article, being a Brandywine graduate with near perfect SAT and ACT scores and one of the highest MEAP scores in southwest Michigan.
But I have heard of goings-on at Brandywine that makes me stand by you and your first article. Students are no longer punished with detentions or in-school-suspensions; they are chastised with something called work detail. Students are taken from classrooms and made to clean the building. I have taxes taken from each of my paychecks for these kids to learn applicable things towards the real world (even though I have yet to use calculus after I graduated), not how to become a janitor. The custodial arts are not to be humbled or looked down upon- a job must be done to take care of a business and these people are the ones who are paid to do it. Emphasize PAID.
When students are not being taught the three R's (ever notice only one is really an "R"?) and being forced to clean, aren't we preparing them for a lifetime of service that doesn't even require a diploma?
My graduating class started with about 130 kids and finished with right around 60. Maybe Brandywine is teaching its students only to become a nation of future cleaners.
Niles