speakOut — Opinions from Here to Out There The following comment is in response to “The Greatness of Ike,” an article by Dr. Ross Douthat, in The New York Times, February 25, 2012. President Eisenhower’s monument lacking a vision of greatness is an honest vision of Eisenhower’s life. Tim B., Seattle This is what I will remember him for. Rather than ‘leaders’ like Bush and Cheney, he lived through the horrors of war and learned from it. He also understood deeply the human costs. “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower, from a speech before the American Society of Newspaper Editors, April 16, 1953 The following comments are in response to “Schooling Santorum,” an article by Dr. Dick Cavett, in The New York Times, February 25, 2012. Teachers are professionals, and public schools serve social needs worth expanding. Janet, Salt Lake City, Utah Home schooling is even worse than Mr. Cavett describes. 60 Minutes recently highlighted the online schools that many home schoolers use. Children sit in front of a computer screen for hours interacting with a teacher that sits in a cubicle somewhere. One boy who finally managed to get back to a regular school commented on the extreme boredom at home. Also, these online students perform poorly on standardized tests. I would love to hear from the Santorum children. Some are now young adults. What is their assessment of their home schooling experience? Bill, Wisconsin It is not the teacher or the size of the class that determines the quality of the education of a child. It is the support and inspiration of qualified parents that is the largest determinant of the quality of a child’s education.
Reply to Bill: Janet, Salt Lake City, Utah Considerable data mining of the No Child Left Behind gives strong evidence that it is the quality of the teacher that has the biggest impact on the success of the child — not the parents, not the environment, not the socioeconomic status of family, not the administration, not the school district. It is the teacher.
The following comment is in response to “Severe Conservative Syndrome,” an article by Dr. Paul Krugman in The New York Times, February 13, 2012. In order to deal with far-right conservatives, Republican candidates are more than willing to distort truths. Wondering in Colorado We have three things to learn. We must: 1. Live in the global economy 2. Live within our means 3. Live sustainably The Constitution says nothing about problem solving, but says a lot about representation. The GOP represents a significant portion of the population that chooses to believe impossible things. They bring things of value to the discussion, but an appreciation of facts is not one of them. The NYT reporters did a great job on the economics of entitlements on Sunday, February 11, 2012. They found lots of Minnesotans who depend on government programs who want to cut government. When presented with the dilemmas this poses, they hoped that the politicians would figure out how to fix it and voted for the Tea Party guy. Opps. So, Obama understands that entitlements must be reformed, taxes raised, and climate protected. The GOP represents folks whose oxen will be gored in the process. So, of course, their only choice is to defeat Obama. The alternative would be to work for the Grand Bargain where everyone gets a haircut. The hyper- entrepreneurial docs will have to stop ignoring best practice, the insurance companies will have to stop overcharging, and the drug companies will have to give quantity discounts. Contrary to the ex-mayor of Wassila, people will learn about hospice. And the carbon industries will have to stop running the country. Reform of public workers’ pensions and benefits will be necessary. Everybody in. Adults required. Now or never.
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