To the editor:

I am troubled by the implications in Tuesday’s article about the “Rube Goldberg” projects at Hillcrest School that stated projects of this type might be discontinued in the future due to pressures coming from No Child Left Behind.

I am the parent of a third-grader who just completed the project, but I am also an architecture professor at Kansas University. The students who excel in my classes at KU are the ones who have highly developed spatial and mechanical imaginations. The Rube Goldberg projects are intended to stimulate that portion of the intellect and aid in the development of critical hand-eye skills. In these projects, students learn about principles of mechanics, geometry, physics, craft, innovation, public presentation and spatial thinking in the context of a fun, family-participatory project. It is pedagogically ingenious.

To forgo rich, multidimensional learning experiences in favor of a narrowly conceived, drill-and-kill, standardized testing regimen is tragic. Our children may not be “left behind,” but they will certainly be dumbed down in many important ways. I dread the students I will see in my KU classes 10 or 12 years from now. They will be ill-equipped for the tasks waiting for them here, and our society will suffer in the long run.

Nils Gore,

Lawrence