Editor, the News-Herald:

Robert Pocklington, in his Thursday, March 10, column about education was right on the money. The sad thing about it is that no one will notice or try to rectify the situation.

I just viewed a program on national satellite television, not about education, that is a symbol of what is wrong with the system.

A woman from Warner Robbins, Ga. was being interviewed. The conservation went like this;

&uot;Where are you from?&uot;

&uot;Warner Robbins Georgia.&uot;

&uot;What do you do?&uot;

&uot;I am a teacher.&uot;

&uot;What grade do you teach?&uot;

&uot;Pre K thru high school.&uot;

&uot;What subject do you teach?&uot;

&uot;Everything.&uot;

That’s outrageous. There is no one who can teach anything at all levels. The woman probably has a degree in child psychology, a masters degree in social services and is working on her doctorate in baby sitting. This illustrates why students are not motivated to go into engineering, science, physics and other professions that are going overseas.

I maintain that all the money in the world will not fix this problem. Money cannot substitute for trained and qualified teachers. If the entire budget for the Commonwealth of Virginia was allocated to our Education Department in January, they would be back before July wanting more money, and with no improvement in results. Another facet of the problem is that the responsibility for motivating students to obtain higher learning lies wlth their ancestors. And they have failed.

Macon N, Sanford

Suffolk