UCI Education Department Is Needed

* Very soon (I have been told that letters of comment were due by April 15), after minimal publicity and very little time or opportunity for public awareness or input, UC Irvine will make the decision whether to abolish its Department of Education.

It is unfortunate that in response to budget cuts the university is considering cutting one of the few graduate departments that has contributed directly to the community. The UCI Department of Education has served Orange County both by training outstanding teachers and by sponsoring the UCI Writing Project, which has extensively and successfully retrained many English teachers throughout the county.

Although the Cal State system also has teaching credential programs, the service currently provided by UCI cannot be duplicated. First, UCI serves central Orange County; schools have a chance to train and evaluate student teachers and to choose the finest among them to join our local school districts.

In addition, UCI is the university in our area that attracts our top graduates from high school.

While these students could certainly get acceptable training at a nearby Cal State program, the very best students, who may wish to continue their training at the prestigious university level, will have to leave the county and may be lost to our local districts altogether.

The UCI Writing Project, which has been responsible for research in the instruction of writing and the successful retraining of writing teachers, would also be lost to our area. As a college writing instructor and as a parent, I have witnessed the tremendous benefit to teachers and students of the UCI Writing Project.

Times are tough and cuts are necessary, but certainly university administrators can make choices that will not have such a major negative impact on the education of its own constituency, Orange County K-12 students.

The Department of Education may not be a moneymaking glamour field, but it is the department most responsible for educating the future students--and the future supporters--of the entire university. Cutting top students and teachers off from university training will ultimately result in erosion of public support for the remaining programs of the university.

TAMAR GOLDMANN

Costa Mesa