Dear Editor:
Gold, not misfits. The headline "Mainstream Misfits Got A Second Chance At Keith Lynn" (April 29, North Shore News) annoyed me.
Certainly school is not a pleasant experience for certain students, but to boldly label them as misfits does them a disservice and undermines the supreme efforts of schools like Keith Lynn Alternative to support them. Kudos to KLASS for their 39 years of bringing hope and motivation to children who couldn't find it in the "mainstream" classroom. Calling anyone a "misfit" focuses only on failure and negative behaviour and does nothing to ease their "significant struggle."
I much prefer the message of Rae Schidlo, former counsellor and teacher at KLASS for nine years as she says to those struggling students: "Don't give up. Every inch of you is worth gold." That is a message worth repeating.
Lynda Sharpe North Vancouver
