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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
In San Diego
Published Letters: 51 Editor's Choice: 16
Thank you Ayelet Waldman for a refreshing article. I can't believe the figure quoted for the recommended duration of homework -- 10 minutes per grade! For me, nightly math assignments alone took minimum 1 hour starting in 5th grade. In junior high, I routinely spent 3 hours or more on homework per night. (For reference, I'm 26 years old now.) Certainly at least part of the explanation for that load is that in my entire K-8 education, I was never a class with fewer than 30 students. The most common size was 33 (I believe that was also the legal limit). I remember the in-school hours being hopelessly chaotic, with teachers spending what seemed like at least half the day standing in front tapping their toe, waiting for the class to settle down. By high school, many students were cutting class--to do homework! Other letter writers have suggested that parents' complaints about homework load are part of the "dumbing down" of our educational system. I'd like to see a system that actually educates students during the school day, instead of merely housing children for a few hours and counting on well-educated parents to pick up the slack at home.
Ahhh. As I read this article, I repeatedly had the desire to breathe deeply so I could physically inhale its fresh air. I am so very tired of the constant woe-is-me-ism of many Christians in this country. I am a Christian. I attend church services for 3 hours each Sunday. (Which is probably more than Bush can say!) And you know, funny thing, nobody from our city police has ever tried to stop me on my way to church. No employee of our local schools, or nearby department store, has ever blocked the door to my church building, or stolen scriptures from my home, or in any other way even tried to prevent me from worshiping as I please. Sure, I encounter an occasional religious bigot who has some snarky comment to make about my beliefs. But the idea of some organized anti-Christian conspiracy is pure paranoia.
On CSPAN yesterday they had live coverage of the White House Christmas tree being delivered. I noticed that Laura Bush exclusively and repeatedly used the greeting "Happy Holidays" to the crowd (instead of "Merry Christmas"). I would LOVE to see O'Reilley go after Mrs. Bush! ROTFL!!!
Did they really say "Bribery flap"! As a constituent of the former congressman, I find it completely offensive that they would dismiss this as a "flap." Lets look at the facts: (1) $2.4 MILLION in bribes is, as the prosecutor said "unprecedented in magnitude," (2) these were not campaign donations that you could possibly argue are not direct bribes, they were direct payments to the congressmen's personal bank account, (3) this happened during wartime on military contracts, which for all we know endangered our troops or at the very least wasted funds that could have been used to better protect them. Everyone has been playing the "fallen hero" angle (he was an Ace pilot in Vietnam), but what kind of veteran/hero sells out the safety of his brothers and sisters in the military during a war in exchange for bribes! On another note, Fox News can hardly be blamed for failing to mention the party affiliation when the AP article that went out didn't either (I hear it may have been corrected later).
The issue of the principal singling out homosexual vs heterosexual is clearly a problem. But assume for the moment that there was consistent enforcement. Mieszkowski asks, "Does this same principal notify parents that their children are heterosexual every time boys and girls are caught making out next to the lockers, too?" Well, does this precedent say that doing so would be illegal?
When I was in high school, a fellow student hanged himself days after the school year ended, knowing that the report card that would shortly be sent to his parents contained a "D". The "A" student feared a horrible retribution. I used to work in an after-school program for young homeless children. We were forced to end the practice of sending home certificates with stickers to mark the areas students were doing well in, because we had cases of students being beaten for not having stickers in all areas. Many parents might react violently if they learned their child were using drugs at school.
The judge in this case cited the possibility of similar dire outcomes of "outing" a child to their parents. So, at some point will it be illegal for principals to send home report cards? Or explain other causes for suspension, like drug use? As sensitive an issue as sexual orientation is, I am having a very, very hard time understanding how anything that a student does at school, especially openly and publicly, must by law be kept from parents.
PS: Kudos to the mother, who sounds amazingly supportive of her daughter.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Once seen as a lunatic fringe, reactionary anti-women groups are courting respectability
Salon headlines in your mailbox
