ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, September 23, 1996 TAG: 9609230002
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A4 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
OUR LATEST "expert" to weigh in with a proposal to fix public education is Shirley Malcom, co-chairman of the Carnegie Corp.'s Task Force on Learning in the Primary Grades (Sept. 16 article, ``Universal preschool proposed''). She says that a universal preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds can cure the problems a universal kindergarten was supposed to cure when it was championed more than 40 years ago.
It's evident that few if any of these grandiose programs put into place by professional educators have had a positive effect on students. Test scores are down, behavior and respect for authority are down. About the only thing going up is the egos of students taught under a system that places them at the center of their own universe.
The task force had the unmitigated gall to suggest that parents should be "taught" how to be the child's first teacher. Perhaps the giant, intrusive, socialistic bureaucracy that is the public-education community should go a little further because the 3- and 4-year-old twigs will already have been bent to some degree by the time educators get them.
Perhaps the educators should simply go into homes and take the infants out of their parents' arms to eat, sleep and be indoctrinated at school. Parents won't be completely left out as they can still have the privilege of paying exorbitant taxes to feed the ravenous and insatiable monster that public education has become.
One distressing aspect of the task force's proposal is that a majority of young parents will probably support it. Dependable baby sitters aren't easily found, and most parents of young children are still innocent enough to believe they can trust their child's welfare to the state.
Although public education is in a bad way (primarily because of proposals like the task force's), there are still many great schoolteachers. Perhaps it's time for these teachers to speak out, to organize and form their own education associations in order to offer an alternative direction for education, and to become something other than parrots and lemmings for the National Education Association.
CLONNIE Y. YEAROUT
ROANOKE
Is Clinton guilty by association?
REGARDING THE Aug. 30 news article, ``Prostitute flap spurs aide to quit'':
Upon reading that article concerning Dick Morris, President Clinton's top campaign adviser, the only thing that came to mind is that birds of a feather flock together.
GRACE ROBERSON
SALEM
The pope deserves an apology
THE AUG. 31 Associated Press article, ``Adventist book calls pope devil's ally,'' really shocked me.
The pope is one of the most admired men in the world! I couldn't believe that a religious denomination could - or would - write such a lie. The pope should get an apology.
GRACE WIENBERRY
GALAX
The young inherited pension-fund mess
IN RESPONSE to Jackie Burch's Sept. 3 letter to the editor, ``Pension fund's woes aren't old folks' fault":
He's exactly right: He did pay into the Social Security fund and should be entitled to that money. I thank members of his generation for the extreme sacrifices they made. My generation should never forget or take lightly those sacrifices.
I think he misses the mark considerably, though, by telling my generation to work and shut up. I'd like to do nothing more than work hard and have most of my paycheck left. But due to the mismanagement and abuse by leaders of his generation, most of my money goes to taxes to help support his generation. Burch seems to think that he didn't elect his leaders and that he isn't responsible for the mess they have created. We have to pick up the load for the mistakes they have committed.
He doesn't need to tell me to work and shut up or to quit whining about our future. It's because of the leadership of his generation that we've been given a raw deal - not the promising future his generation enjoyed.
Burch doesn't need to come whining to us to support his loose spending restraints. We only want the same chance for the American dream that he had. He needs to remember that this is his mess, too.
WESLEY B. PHIPPS
RADFORD
Anti-stalking laws clearly needed
THE PRICE of anger and hurt is devastating. A woman breaks off a relationship with her boyfriend. Shortly afterwards, her Roanoke apartment is firebombed. Robin Williams escapes with burns to her hand and arm.
The same woman is killed just two months later. According to police reports, she was chased out of her mother's house in Northwest Roanoke and gunned down on the street by her former boyfriend. The police also believe the ex-boyfriend may have killed a man in Charlotte, N.C., so that he could drive the man's car to Roanoke. I thank The Roanoke Times for so ably covering this example of stalking when it took place several months ago.
The question now: What can be done?
In May, anti-stalking legislation was approved in the House of Representatives and it passed the Senate in July with an amendment. The two legislative bodies must now come to an agreement. The proposed legislation would mean that someone stalking across state lines or on federal property would have committed a federal crime. Also, restraining orders issued in one state would be valid in another. It's critical this legislation be enacted this year.
GAIL H. McKEE
PILOT
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