toledoblade.com -- The Blade ~ Toledo Ohio

The bashing of public education has been elevated almost to the level of a national pastime. What is most unfortunate is that so much of the condemnation is based on myth, not fact.

Older Americans want to think that schools used to be better and tougher. This is a myth. In 1960 only 41 percent of adults had four or more years of high school. By 1998, this had more than doubled to 82.8 percent. The rise among African-Americans is greater, from 20.1 percent in 1960 to 76 percent by 1998.

This has happened despite educators who face greater challenges now than ever before: a soaring divorce rate and mobility rate as well as a technology-driven economy that requires teaching more difficult concepts at lower grade levels. Our complex economy requires that students be more accomplished than ever before, with less supportive home environments. Students now learn algebraic concepts in elementary school that many of my peers in the 1960s avoided altogether, while getting diplomas.

Urban schools are targeted. Urban teachers, who choose to teach students with greater challenges, are in the bull's-eye. The state of Ohio set standards for quality that ignore the greater challenges urban educators face, so that hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars could be siphoned off to line the pockets of corporate leeches and flimflam artists running statistically dreadful schools.

Dr. Eugene Sanders stated that the Toledo Public Schools would be an exemplary urban school district. With high school proficiency test scores consistently at or near the top of Ohio's urban districts, and with an internationally acclaimed evaluation system for teachers, it already is. We are proud, but not complacent. Judge public schools. Judge TPS fairly and factually, not mythically.

DALE PERTCHECK
Sylvania
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Lathrop House site has historic value

As an experienced and respected advanced placement United States history and government teacher, I strongly support keeping the Lathrop-Vogt House on its original site in Sylvania because as a station on the Underground Railroad it has local and national historic significance.

The runaway slaves who traveled the Underground Railroad are the proof of Thomas Jefferson's words from the Declaration of Independence: "... That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ..."

Think about these men and women enslaved in the southern states who endured unbelievable physical punishments, lived through the unbearable separation from their family members, and were unjustly denied any education.

Yet from deep within their very human souls, they knew that they and their children should not be slaves, that life should be better. Their courageous journeys to freedom from the South through Ohio to Canada gave them a chance for life and liberty and the opportunity to pursue happiness. These American heroes should be remembered because they stood for the core of our American ideals.

The northern and southern abolitionists who aided the fugitives also understood Jefferson's words. Think about these men and women, such as Miles and Julia Lathrop, who risked their lives and freedom to help victims of injustice. They knew that those sacred words applied not only to free white men, but also to those generations of men and women who suffered the indignity and cruelty of slavery.

The abolitionists acted upon their beliefs and challenged Americans of the 1840s and 1850s to confront the evils of slavery. These heroes should be remembered.

JACQUELINE KORALEWSKI KONWINSKI
Sylvania
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Stimulus package no gift to workers

While the last few details of the economic stimulus package are being hammered out, it is wise to keep a couple points firmly in mind. Since it became obvious an economic downturn was inevitable, we have been told by President Bush that we consumers should spend away our savings to keep the economy afloat.

However, a great bulk of the stimulus package benefits only the large corporations and businesses that have made it their patriotic duty to lay off large numbers of their employees. The remaining sliver of this relief package goes, rightfully so, to those unfortunate enough to have lost their jobs by the hands of those who will benefit the most from this legislation.

Perhaps the professional lobbyists and corporate apologists should be the next target on our war against terrorism.

STEVE LATSCH
Parkwood Avenue
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Today's workplace: A zero-sum game?

The media have reported that close to 700,000 persons have been laid off. IBM announced that 1,200 more people would be let go this month. What do the laid-off people do for food, clothing, and other living expenses? I remember the 1930s, when I started to work, and the Depression. We did not have unemployment compensation.

What happens now when the unemployment pay is depleted?

The same page had an article that bonuses were used to attract CEOs. Do executives get a bonus each year because of their contract or does it depend on the number of persons laid off?

President Bush is encouraging us to spend more to improve our economy. How can we when more than 700,000 persons have no jobs and get no pay?

PAUL SEROTE
River Road
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What distinguishes terrorist, criminal?

The acts of terrorism by Osama bin Laden and company stand out sharply because of their magnitude. Great steps are now being made in security to guard against future attacks. Well and good. A terrorist by definition is an individual who by his action puts us in fear of the loss of life, limb, property, and security.

I submit that the citizens of Toledo have, in effect, been under terrorist threats for years. We, as any group who has suffered over a long period of time, have adjusted and taken security measures.

Women carry mace when shopping and our homes and vehicles have security systems. We have organized block watches, legal and illegal handguns are by our beds and under our car seats, and video cameras are in retail outlets. We have numbers to call for help and to turn in a known local terrorist.

Those who deal in terror, according to our government, have no redeeming social value and have fewer morals than animals. Their norm is to rebel against the laws of God and man. When they murder by the thousands and destroy property valued in the billions we call them terrorists. When they murder or injure singly or steal or destroy in the hundreds of dollars they are labeled criminals. Is it the number of lives and the dollar amount that defines them?

The one group we hunt down and destroy. The other we place into institutions, where in time they are released an even deadlier terrorist. Justice is not only slow, it's a bit strange.

I can just hear the hue and cry, "Should we react locally as did those brave souls on the aircraft that went down in Pennsylvania?"

CHARLES C. YOUNTS
Templar Road

Liberals just don't get Linda Bowles

Why do many liberals hate Linda Bowles so?

Maybe it is because she is honest, decent, and tells it as it is.

Unfortunately, those same liberals cannot comprehend this line of thinking.

DAVID A. CUSAC
Findlay

Linda Bowles just doesn't get it
Linda Bowles has one thing right. "The human mind is notorious for accommodating itself. The most flagrant bigots in the world have totally rationalized their biases."

Unfortunately, it's a matter she hasn't managed to look into yet.

CHRISTOPHER CULLIS
Bryan

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