LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Education proposal lacks merit

9/10/2013

President Obama’s education proposal is all about numbers and not about quality (“Obama plan focuses on college affordability; Rating system would assess value,” Aug. 23).

The proposal judges the worth of education in a way that de-emphasizes any nonimmediately practical aspect of education.

Most of the proposal is a recipe for grade inflation, larger classes, administrative grade changes, local politics in decisions about hiring and tenure, and less emphasis on the individual.

When Mr. Obama first was elected President, I wrote him a congratulatory email in which I pleaded that he address education by taking into account the opinions of people who actually teach students. I do not think this proposal reflects any such consultation.

SAM NADLER, JR.
Densmore Drive

Editor’s note: The writer is a research professor emeritus of mathematics at the University of Toledo.

Common Core would aid students
It is appalling that governors and lawmakers would turn their backs on a bipartisan project to raise the achievement level of students (“War on Common Core: The right aims to keep America stupid,” op-ed column, Aug. 22).

Common Core is not a federally prescribed curriculum, but rather a set of benchmarks of what needs to be learned at each grade level to ensure that a student can successfully enter college or the workplace.

President George W. Bush attempted to improve schools with the No Child Left Behind Act, but states were allowed to set their own standards and several low-performing states simply lowered their standards to comply.

Our children deserve an educational experience that prepares them for college or a career after high school. We should see that they get it. Common Core is a step in the right direction.

ROSS GRAVES
Birchtree Drive

 

Don’t use police to raise revenue
Your Aug. 17 editorial “Theft of property” was an excellent exposé of how money has corrupted law enforcement in America. Apparently, some authorities never read the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures.

What next? Will police confiscate a person’s auto for speeding?

RAYMOND ELIEFF
Suder Avenue

 

Drug tests OK to receive welfare
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to require welfare recipients to take drug tests, because people who work and pay taxes that finance the welfare system are required to take them (“Punish the poor,” editorial, Sept. 3).

Having to take a drug test might encourage those on welfare to seek employment and better their situation.

GARY SCOTT
Oswald Street