BY KRISTA RAMSEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer

I had my chance to tell you what I think about elementary proficiency tests and criminal charges for hall-pass forging by high school students. Then it was your turn to tell me.

A Harrison mom wrote to warn me that it's not only fourth- and sixth-graders who are worrying about state proficiency tests. Her third-grader's class took the fourth-grade version this year.

''I am disgusted, and my son has been nervously awaiting this week for the past month,'' she wrote. ''The third-graders were told if they flunk the test, they must go to summer school. What pressure on a 9-year-old - too much, I think.''

A ninth-grader at Delhi Junior High wrote in with a proficiency peeve of her own.

Last year, as an eighth-grader, she and classmates were given the ninth-grade test, along with a practice test for a new science proficiency test. They were told the practice test wouldn't count, and that they'd never have to take it again.

This year, as a freshman, she found out she again had to take the science test. This time it ''counted'' - students had to pass it, along with the other sections of the proficiency test, before they would be awarded a diploma.

''I thought the test was pretty easy, but that's not the point,'' she wrote. ''The state lied to us, and I don't think that's right.''

Her letter echoed the feelings of a number of other readers: Kids (and their parents) feel they're being tested to death.

What passes for forgery

There was far less agreement on the fate of a Lakota teen-ager who faced criminal charges after forging a hall pass. Originally, he faced felony forgery charges. Later, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.

I questioned the wisdom of criminal charges - especially felony charges - for what was essentially an internal school matter.

I admitted that my friends and I had forged passes in high school, an act I regretted but didn't think of as criminal.

A veteran junior high school teacher wrote to question my judgment. ''What if you falsified information about your health to school officials? Would you find that acceptable? How about shoplifting?''

He continued, ''Kevin Prentice's misconduct was to break a law. Our response tells us this about ourselves: We're a nation of laws. It's not clear what you would prefer us to be, but whatever it is, I'm afraid it's that sentiment that's at least partly responsible for the fact that 'kids mess up bigger today' (my words).''

Others saw it differently.

A mother wrote to tell me of the handling of disciplinary issues for her son. Although the family supported the school's initial action - a two-day suspension for insubordination - they became disillusioned as the school continued to suspend throughout the year and threatened criminal charges, while offering little help in solving the problem.

''My child was not a threat to anyone. No one made an attempt to find another solution for him,'' she wrote.

Now at a different school, he is doing well with the support of his parents, teachers and administrators. His grades have improved, he's happy, his teachers are happy, and he's had not even one detention.

''I think administrators need to look at kids and give them understanding and a chance,'' his mother wrote. ''I'm not talking about the violent ones. My child was not violent. A little understanding by the administration would have gone a long way in solving our problem, and would not have affected my child's self-esteem in such a negative way.''

'Truth, falsity blurred'

Finally, another writer called the handling of Kevin Prentice's case ''a sign of the times, and our approach to educating our children - a shame, to be sure, and very unjust.

''There are no moral absolutes any more, and if you can think of a good reason to do something, just do it. Truth and falsity become blurred,'' he wrote. ''The only problem is that real life isn't like that, and if our kids don't learn these basics at home or in school, they eventually end up learning them the hard way - at the hands of the police and the courts.''

Krista Ramsey's column appears in The Enquirer on Saturdays. Write her at 312 Elm St., Cincinnati 45202 or fax at 768-8340.

RAMSEY ARCHIVE