Parents Object To Too Much Rigor
MARLBOROUGH -- The Soviets ordered them to leave most everything behind. When Julia Sigalovsky fled the Soviet Union in 1989 she took only her husband, their son, Linda the collie, six suitcases, $400, and a titanium-strength foundation in math and physics. The latter proved to be her most valuable asset as she navigated refugee camps and multiple career changes to establish herself in Massachusetts.
Moscow School No. 2, she realized, gave her the tools to become a geochemist, then an MIT ceramics process researcher, then the founder of her own environmental engineering firm. Two years ago, while trying to find a rigorous kindergarten for her second son, she thought: What if she created a school where children received the training she did? What if they studied a subject not just for one year, but for five or six?
"I believe kids in elementary and middle school are just wasting their time in school. Everybody feels they're supposed to have fun," said Sigalovsky, 48, a Sudbury resident. "They're capable of learning at a much higher level."
Sigalovsky's charter school proposal for the Advanced Math and Science Academy, serving grades 6 to 12, is being discussed this week at state Department of Education public hearings. Her radical idea has created a counterrevolutionary storm in Marlborough and nearby towns.
The math and science academy -- like charter proposals for Cambridge, Lynn, and Springfield being debated tomorrow and Thursday -- has plenty of opponents for reasons fiscal, political, and philosophical. But unlike the other plans, Sigalovsky's idea has unleashed a torrent of patriotic pique.
Critics have distributed fliers accusing outsiders of denigrating their schools by saying an American education is inferior to that of Russia, China, and Germany. At a forum last week, assistant superintendent John Petrin demanded to know, "Where's this proposal coming from? Where is the need? It's coming from the outside."
Audience members said Sigalovsky's school would be based on a model that is as discredited and obsolete as Communism. "She talked about Germany, how they teach in . . . China and Japan. I don't want my kids educated like Germans," said Tom Leveillee, 77, a retiree and World War II veteran.
By meeting's end, Sandra Witkos, an academy supporter, was furious. "They may have well said `Commies!' " said the Marlborough mother of three.
Sigalovsky's friend and future curriculum developer, Anna Charny, said the last time she experienced this sort of treatment was as a refusnik, a Soviet citizen who was barred from emigrating. She was also barred from studying at Moscow universities.
"This whole thing, telling us `these Eastern Europeans' is so reminiscent of what we fled," said Charny, a Cisco Systems computer scientist who received her doctorate from MIT. "There we were called `you Jews!' This is so disappointing."
The charter school hopes to draw 276 students in its first year from Marlborough and the nearby towns of Hudson, Clinton, and Maynard. Rose Marie C. Boniface, Marlborough's superintendent of schools, said the district would be forced to relinquish $2.4 million of its $40 million budget for those who attend the charter school. Boniface said the decrease in enrollment dents would not great be enough for the district of 4,700 students to save money by closing schools or consolidating staff.
Some critics cite Sigalovsky's failure to widely publicize her plan until it received preliminary state approval. They say they were blindsided by a statement in her proposal that "given the wealth of high-tech resources available in the region" there is a "relatively poor quality of the available education."
Results from the 2003 MCAS show 22 percent of Marlborough's fourth graders failed compared with 16 percent statewide, and 36 percent of eighth graders failed compared with 33 percent across the state. In sixth grade only 24 percent failed, vs. 26 percent statewide.
Comparisons with surrounding communities such as Berlin, Hudson, and Sudbury that have better MCAS scores are unfair, Marlborough officials say, because the district has far more students who are immigrants, poor, or who have special education needs.
Many critics are put off by the rigor of the academy's curriculum, saying it would not truly be a public school because many children, including those with special education needs, could never keep up. The charter school would skim the cream, Boniface said, leaving the underperformers. "If you drain the top kids, your ability to be at or above the state average is diminished," she said.
Sigalovsky's concept is founded on some basic principals: that children should, and can, grasp theoretical knowledge before learning examples. That schools should teach physics, chemistry, algebra, geometry, and biology not just once in four years, but every year. That history should not be divided by country, but should survey the modern world. That literature should parallel the history courses and should focus on periods and movements instead of countries. That geography is not tangential, but an integral part of understanding world history.
Specialists in their fields would be recruited to teach. There would be some drilling, a famous aspect of Soviet education. A child would have to be enrolled by seventh grade. "If by the age of 13 they don't have the habits, the hard work, and logical thinking, it's too late," Sigalovsky said. She says they will accommodate special education needs, but if a child cannot keep up, he will not advance.
Since September, Sigalovsky has tried some of her concepts at the MetroWest School of Mathematics, a private evening program she founded in Marlborough that tutors children in grades K-10. Public school officials acknowledge that some of her students have improved. Beyond that, Sigalovsky's idea has exposed a different vein of thinking. Some in Marlborough "have a world view that America is tops in so many things," said proponent David Foster, 53, a father of six, "that people coming from other countries that are not as advantaged economically . . . couldn't possibly have an education superior to ours."
The intense reaction has, in an unexpected way, helped her cause, Sigalovsky said. "I'm getting calls from parents."
Suzanne Sataline can be reached at sataline@globe.com.
— Suzanne Sataline
A rigorous way to teach
Boston Globe
2004-01-13
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/01/13/a_rigorous_way_to_teach/
INDEX OF OUTRAGES
