Underappreciated

After working seven hours at school on one of my main "holidays" last Wednesday, I read Ken Grow's comments in The Acorn sharing his opinions about teachers and the ease of my profession.

I'm all for freedom of the press and feel that everyone is most definitely entitled to their own opinion, but I'm not convinced that Mr. Grow has the knowledge to back up his comment that "any intelligent adult could teach children at the elementary school level with or without a degree or training."

I teach first grade at Glenwood Elementary in Thousand Oaks and am extending an invitation for Mr. Grow to come teach my class for one day. I'd gladly provide standards-based lesson plans for him, or he can design lesson plans on this own covering all that I'm responsible to teach. Afterwards,

I'd ask that he write to The Acorn again to confirm his original quote, or to perhaps acknowledge that teachers are more than glorified babysitters. Deborah Starr Calabasas