Letters To The Editor
SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION
Oakland school board got it right
We, Americans, detest and disdain our fellow citizens according to their speech. In order to maintain this criterion, we must prevent children from learning standard English unless they learn it at home.
We should certainly not ask teachers of these children to use degenerate English to show their students our self-evident truths. The fault of Oakland’s school board is not that it attempted to define a new version of English, rather that it expected teachers to use vernacular in teaching. If this attempt succeeds, then speech will not distinguish class. Without class, our American way of life will cease.
As it should, if class be its defining concept!
Choking on a gnat, some pundits have scolded the Oakland school board for comparing the plight of children from families that do not use standard English to those of families that do not use any English. Swallowing a camel, these same poseurs ignore the federal government’s maleficent refusal to provide equal remedies for equal problems, praising the Department of Education’s linguistic orthodoxy.
Children are starving for citizenship and employment skills while these prominent African Americans and others debate the linguistic orthodoxy of Ebonics. Give me a break!
The Oakland school board deserves our praise for having diagnosed a serious problem and having devised a most humane, class-unconscious solution. The U.S. Department of Education deserves our disapprobation for its shameful capitulation. David Moseley, president Washington State School Directors Association, Pullman
SPOKANE MATTERS
Valley people helpful and kind
Although I was born and raised in Spokane, I haven’t lived there for about 40 years. Last Sunday, after having braved Western Washington roads and I-90 the day before, I got hopelessly stuck in a snow drift on Simpson in Otis Orchards, just blocks from where I was supposed to pick up our dog.
A complete stranger tried to get us out, then got help from a neighbor with a four-wheel drive. That failing, he and his wife took us into their home with the warmest hospitality imaginable.
When the tow truck was able to get to us, the driver towed the car to a repair shop (it would not start after the trauma of the snow drift) and then took my wife and I to a nearby motel.
The next day, when my wife had a sore throat, a compassionate mechanic went out of his way to fix our car as quickly as possible. The motel accommodated us by extending our checkout time by hours. And the breeder who was boarding our dog graciously accepted our delay (the second one, due to a previous pass closure).
We got home, safely and far sooner than I had hoped for, thanks to some beautiful people in the Spokane Valley. I’m proud to be a native son of Spokane (and quite a bit grateful as well). Fritz Blackwell Pullman
OTHER TOPICS
Innocent Gingrich being railroaded
After following all the discussion about House Speaker Newt Gingrich violating a tax law relating to his college course, I conclude it’s a question of semantics. Was the course partisan or political?
If partisan, Gingrich violated the law that forbids using funds from GOPAC; if political, he didn’t.
I watched the entire Renewing America course on MEU TV. I thought it was an excellent political history of the United States. I did not see it as partisan. Professor Gingrich praised Democrats and Republicans alike when their actions improved the country and supported the Constitution and the intentions of our Founding Fathers. Everyone should see this course and judge for themselves.
Rep. David Bonior, D-Mich., and his fellow Democrats are attacking Gingrich because Gingrich understands our history and what made our country great. Gingrich is trying to remind us of those principles so we can renew America before we slide down the slope into total socialism. This is a fight over beliefs, not ethics. Do you want more individual freedom or more socialism?
Our tax laws are unbelievably confusing. Most of us follow the advice of our tax attorneys or CPAs without totally understanding all the IRS laws. Gingrich is no different. He’ not a CPA. He also supports simplifying our tax laws so average people can handle their own tax situations.
Don’t be fooled by hysterical calls for Gingrich’s head. Their power depends on keeping you uninformed. Gingrich believes knowledge will make you free. Barbara Green Liberty Lake
Bible is not so elastic
I have never read more ludicrous letters to the editor on one page as I did on Jan. 2, justifying homosexuality.
Jesus never specifically talked about incest, so does that therefore make it OK? By ignoring large sections of Scripture or deciding on your own what to accept as from God and what not, you set yourself up to be hopelessly confused.
By taking verses out of context, one could claim God to be a big bird. After all, the Bible says that those who trust him can take refuge under his wings.
Being familiar with Scripture as a whole, I know he’s not a bird and homosexuality is clearly an abomination to him. Ingrid Norris Spokane