Frontline: Teacher, Teacher

Shakopee, Minnesota, a modest midwestern town just outside of the Minneapolis/St. Paul region, is the location for this engrossing Frontline program. Although students from Shakopee have traditionally achieved better than average scores on national tests, local teachers feel their services are underappreciated. Set primarily in the classroom, the show focuses on two different teaching situations: Judy, a high school teacher of 14 years teaches English; Barry and Sharon have co-taught fifth-graders for 20 years. In both situations new problems are cropping up every day as the gap between the achievers and underachievers grows ever wider. As one principal puts it: the standard "bell curve" of student's grades has shifted to a "flat line." "C" students no longer make up the large middle--there are as many students in the "D" and "F" range. Interviewing teachers, students, and parents, the program tries to get a feel for the importance of education to the community. An important referendum which failed earlier is relaunched and barely squeaks by, while the teacher's union and district representatives are engaged in a standstill negotiation over salaries. Hard financial times, skepticism over the abilities of the educational system to provide an education, more emphasis put on working today (in part-time jobs) rather than education for future positions--the reasons are wide-ranging, but the frustrations of educators in Shakopee are surely mirrored in countless communities across the country. Whether from indifference or strapped finances, people today are less inclined to fund education than in previous decades. The consequences for the future are frightening to contemplate. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (See ARCTIC REFUGE for availability.)