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Hernando Today

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 7, 2008

How Do We Properly

Educated Our Children?

Mr. Gries' letter defending his wife and the teaching community was a perfect example of the meaning of my letter to the editor! Forget the kids, save my wife.

Thanks to Ms. Knarr and Mr. DeWitt for adding their voices and better knowledge to the discussion. Special thinks to Mr. Wessel and the editorial staff for presenting this material. When The Tampa Tribune goes under, I hope I'll still be able to buy the Hernando Today.

Your response, as indicated by Ms. Knarr, didn't address my questions. Let's try again.

• Why can't our children read?

• Why can't our children compete in science and math with the Asians and Europeans, etc.?

• Why is our industry begging the government for more visas to allow more scientific and medically trained foreigners into the country to fill current job vacancies? Why can't our schools prepare our kids to fill them?

• An example of the problem, you may be more familiar with, is Jay Leno's comedic shtick presented on his program at times when he corners high schoolers or collegians and asks them tough questions like: Who's buried in Grant's tomb? Or, how many branches of government are described in the Constitution? Some ask, "What's the Constitution?"

• Why are we resorting to other than public school education to educate our children?

In fact, parents have lost confidence in public school education and are resorting to charter schools, religious schools, home teaching, computer and Internet teaching, etc., etc., etc. I'm one of this group. All my children were educated in religious primary and secondary schools.

We ask, how do our teachers unions seek to correct the problems?

By striking, thereby depriving children of an education, as poor as it may be.

By union lobbying to prohibit establishment of these competing methodologies, assuming public monies might be diverted and there won't be enough to fill their troughs or pay them their unearned salaries. I specify "unearned" because if our children can't read, add or subtract, don't know the basic elements of our constitution or history, their teachers didn't do their jobs, right?

We've seen the reactions of auto unions to current problems. They stall, not wanting to correct any of the current problems or lose any of their benefits. Our teachers unions do the same.

So, again, other than trying to protect your monetary plum, how do we properly educate our children?

Don W. Plezia

Spring Hill

Nirvana At Hand

Rejoice, America, for Nirvana is at hand. Ah yes, it is nearly the Age of Aquarius. A multiyear campaign of denigration of our corporations and vilification of the CEOs and anyone else that actually produced anything has finally liberated us from the tyranny of greedy corporations that force us to buy overpriced goods and shoddy services. It has long been a tenet of the American people that our oil companies were screwing us, our energy companies were rolling in ill-gotten gains, our insurance providers were unethical and voracious; and God forbid anyone got sick and had to actually pay for their health care.

With Heaven-on-Earth nearly upon us, we will get everything we need or desire from a benevolent federal government. Now that Schumer, Frank and Dodd are running our financial system, and Levin and Waxman are about to become czars of our manufacturers, can it be long before Kennedy (of Kopechne fame) and Waters shower upon us all manner of free health care? Why did we not learn this lesson earlier in our nation's life? Sit back and let Uncle Sam carry the load. Atlas may have shrugged, but surely the Uncle is made of sterner stuff.

Just think how content we will all be when we can warm our gruel over an open fire outside our two-room hovels, gnaw healthy bark off nearby trees, and contemplate greenness while we smile in deep satisfaction as Pelosi flies overhead in her government-supplied 747 to visit her weirdos in San Francisco. God forbid a person of her paramount importance should have to stop to take on fuel. After all, our benefactors (politicians) are much too important to have to actually walk the walk. Talking the talk is all we need or expect.

Ain't life grand?

Terry Lyon

Brooksville

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