Views in brief

Left behind by charter schools

IN RESPONSE to "The charter school charade": It is so refreshing to see an education article that doesn't praise the charter school movement!

Now, more than ever, it seems everywhere I turn, there is unending praise for the charter schools and nothing but contempt for public schools. I'm an early childhood education major, and I'm about to embark on my student teaching experience this spring. I'm deeply saddened by what I'm seeing. How could we, as public educators, let it get this far? Are we going to turn belly-up and let them trample all over us? We have got to get it together and fast.

The charter school movement is a strong one because it is supported by people who know how to sell a "product"--and a "product" is exactly how charter schools look at education. Yes, they can boast high test scores, but only because they recruit students that are already motivated, high-scoring test takers who have parents who are there to offer support any way they can. The "lottery" system is random up to a certain point--and that point is whether or not the child chosen by the lottery has the proper credentials to get into the charter.

This is what we're not hearing. Where are all the English-as-a-second-language students, the at-risk students and the students with disabilities and emotional problems in the charter schools? Look closely, because it will be very difficult to find any.

We must ask ourselves the important question. Let's say that charter schools are the future and, eventually, the only option for childhood education. What is going to happen to all the children and parents that the charter schools won't "tolerate"?

This question is just one of many that need to be answered. Remember, history and economics teaches us one thing about private industry: What is any private industry most concerned with? Making money--not what is the best for ALL children.

John Dewey, how we need you now.
Cynthia Holcombe, Ewing, N.J.

Who's guarding the mortgage guards?

IN 2009, I tried contacting SunTrust Mortgage to modify my mortgage. They lost my documents three times and took nine months to respond.

When they did respond, they were only able to take my arrears and add it back to the loan with a lower interest rate and a higher monthly installment. They did nothing and rushed me these documents just before my house went into foreclosure.

In 2010, the exact same thing happened again, but the worst part was that they contacted me five days before my home went into foreclosure to tell me there was nothing they could do (yet again).

I have been employed with Hilton for the past 13 years, with all my other bills being paid on time, and this is the help I get. I was even told by a SunTrust employee that my income was reported as double the actual amount--so the first modification (for want of a better word) could have been approved. I am now seeking an apartment and am moving out before the foreclosure hits my credit.

The Federal Housing Authority seems totally unaware of what the banks are and are not doing--and it is the one that guarantees these loans.

Who is guarding the guards?
Derek Alexis, from the Internet

Ruling class whiners

IN RESPONSE to "The two Americas": Charles Munger and the rest of these arrogant crybabies ought to be taken out in the backwoods and flogged. This is really no different than Marie Antoinette's proclamation of "Let them eat cake!'

Yes, rich people actually feel that somehow they're blessed, or that they're smarter, or that they work harder than the rest of us. Poppycock! It's the workers that build, fix, maintain and put up with the "unpleasantries" that the ruling elite have neither the stomach nor the nerves to cope with.

The wrecking crew who wrecked the economy and did this to us ought to consider sucking it up by paying more taxes--even 1 or 2 percent would help alleviate some of the mess we're already in, and they would still have more than enough to buy their yachts and Petrossian caviar.

The working class has to rise up and take back what belongs to it and put an end to the whining of these ne'er do wells with their feeling of entitlement. Enough already!
MBH, Chicago

Taking on the tax cuts

IN RESPONSE to "How Obama got from hope to hopeless": This is an excellent analysis of what went wrong, including the fact that the failure is shared between the charismatic leader that let us down and the lack of push from the ground up.

We need an issue that can bridge across cultures and ethnicities into a solid working-class movement. I wonder if people think Bush's tax cuts could be that issue (or at least a place to start)? Might we be able to provide some wind at Obama's back so he doesn't have to, or is not able to, compromise on tax cuts for the obscenely wealthy?

It's time to get out in the street. The new virtual tools are amazing (as here I sit writing to lots of you) but there's no substitute for boots on the ground--in great numbers. I'm wondering what the sentiment is out there for saying "no way" to this giveaway?
Bonnie Ratner, Portland, Ore.

Running universities like businesses

IN RESPONSE to "Saddled with student debt": The universities and the professions have just as much complicity in this as the student loan lenders.

First of all, in order to gain entry to many professions, it is now necessary to have a specific master's degree. Getting such a degree is increasingly expensive, in no small part because universities are run like businesses, and are more attentive to their bottom line than anything else.

If a graduate can't find a job in his or her profession, or decides to change professions, the degree is useless and he or she must obtain a new degree in their new field.

Just to point out an example: Here in Houston, in order to be a librarian at the public library, one needs to have a Master's of Library Science. Yet the job pays only in the mid-$30,000s, which is a living, but barely--especially when coupled with loan payments.

Meanwhile, where did Abraham Lincoln go to law school? He had about two years of formal education total. Architect Frank Lloyd Wright quit the undergraduate architecture program at University of Wisconsin without taking a degree.

I would argue that today's universities churn out mediocrities. Which leads me to another point. A university education from out-of-touch, arrogant, self-serving professors is hardly worth what it costs. Yet it is the means by which an applicant must prove their "dedication" to a profession.
Jason Hochman, Houston, Texas