In defense of the push to set MCAS aside

Teachers union membership knows how best to educate Mass. students

Columnist Scot Lehigh once again has taken aim at the president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association (“MTA chief Max Page bulls clumsily about in the public-policy shop,” Opinion, July 14). This time it is about Max Page’s strong opposition to MCAS testing, which wastes precious classroom time and takes autonomy away from educators in a topdown, misguided attempt to impose a one-size-fits-all graduation requirement on every Massachusetts public high school student.

Lehigh ought to understand how the MTA operates: that it is the largest union in New England; that it is made up of more than 100,000 experienced and devoted teachers; that the president of the union carries out the wishes of the MTA membership, not the reverse; that Deb McCarthy, vice president of the MTA, also has been speaking repeatedly and passionately about the need to abolish MCAS testing immediately, as have hundreds of other members of the union. Lehigh cannot possibly know better than the people who are actually in classrooms how best to educate Massachusetts students.

A ballot measure would clear up any confusion about where Massachusetts voters stand on MCAS testing. I do not share Lehigh’s concern about putting the cart before the horse here; this particular horse is lame and needs to be laid to rest.

PAUL JOHANSEN Pittsfield

The writer is an adjunct faculty member in the math department at Berkshire Community College and a master’s-level biostatistician. He sits on the executive committee of the board of directors of the Massachusetts Community College Council, the largest local chapter of the MTA. The views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the council.