Letters To The Editor
HIGHER EDUCATION
Eastern critic late bemoaning deals
Douglas R. Mitchell’s letter of July 9, “Ills misdiagnosed and mistreated,” reveals an angry individual wallowing in the past. The settlements Eastern Washington University granted Mark Drummond, James Hoffman and Kenneth Dolan occurred a year ago. That was the time to be angry. What good does it do now? Mitchell’s sudden ire is like the three bears waiting a year before getting mad at Goldilocks.
Mitchell’s remarks on faculty workloads reflect a complete absence of knowledge about that issue. His use of inflammatory language verges on the hilarious. I am confident neither Mitchell nor anyone else would discover many EWU faculty suffering from “a long history of abuse.”
Mitchell does make a few good comments. He correctly points out EWU needs a dedication to quality. He mentions “competence, integrity and honesty” as necessary ingredients for success. Though somewhat redundant, I agree with that assessment.
The university community, including alumni, faculty, staff, administrators and citizens of Cheney and Spokane, must set the past aside. We have an obligation to ourselves, to the institution and to Dr. Jordan to move forward.
What does moving forward mean? It means breaking down the barriers of mistrust. It means showing respect to each member of the university community for their role in making EWU a success. It means taking risks. It means rekindling the sense of community that was an Eastern hallmark.
Those unwilling to release the past are jeopardizing Eastern’s future. Tom McArthur Spokane
SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION
Parents should be in charge
Lyleen Maddox (Letters, July 16) has deep concern that other people’s children aren’t being educated properly. She complains that, “everything is left in the hands of the parent.” How terrible! We cannot allow the unwashed masses to care for their own children. Something must be done.
Maddox states, “We need enforceable testing. Children should be entered into the school system if they are falling behind.”
The root of her word “enforceable” is “force,” which translates to people coming to your home to tell you how you must raise your own children. It sounds extreme, but it is the raw reality of Maddox’s proposal. She seems to think that politicians, bureaucrats and interest groups somehow know what’s better for my child than I do.
In the media lately, the institution of parenthood has been relentlessly attacked. (How many times have I heard someone advocate government licenses for parenthood?) But I would argue that the institution of government has a far more evil record than subjectively defined “bad parenting” ever could.
How much death and pain have governments caused; how much harassment, waste and inefficiency? I understand people get concerned about other people’s problems, but why always turn to government? In government schools, potential Einsteins become potheads and future Mother Teresas become teenage mothers.
Government doesn’t work. Let’s go back to a society of caring parents, neighbors, churches and social organizations, and quit crying for the coercive authority of the nanny-state to run America. Greg D. Holmes Spangle, Wash.
Total immersion in English works best
It’s good to see that the debate on bilingual education is in the national spotlight as a result of the passage of Proposition 227 in California.
Many generations of immigrants entered American public schools not speaking any English, yet were still able to succeed. This history of success has shown that the best and quickest way for immigrants to learn English is total immersion.
I started kindergarten in 1957, having recently emigrated from Italy with my family. While I don’t recall my first year or two of school very well, I know I learned English quickly by playing with neighbor kids and classmates. I’ve been told that it took most immigrant kids one school year to learn English.
It would have been preposterous back then to segregate the Italian immigrant children and teach them in Italian. Our parents wouldn’t have allowed it. It would have defeated the purpose of coming to America. They came to America to improve their lives, their children’s lives, and to become Americans.
As the children learned and spoke English in school, Italian was still spoken at home and at social gatherings in order to be able to communicate with the older generations. This enabled us to maintain Italian customs and culture as we became Americans.
The idea that it’s punitive to teach immigrant children in English in American schools defies logic. It does expose, however, that the driving force behind bilingual education is a political and social agenda to control education dollars.
It has little to do with what is best for the children. Fred Carani Leavenworth, Wash.
PRIGGEE
Don’t make FBI out as innocent
While I don’t always agree with staff cartoonist Milt Priggee’s cartoons sometimes they make me angry and sometimes they leave me weak from laughter they always make me stop and think.
Concerning his cartoon about Randy Weaver, the FBI wasn’t exactly without fault in the Ruby Ridge incident. There was criminal conduct on the part played out by that so-called law enforcement agency. Weaver and Kevin Harris were incarcerated and stood trial for their part in the incident. Lon Horiuchi, the FBI sniper who killed an innocent, Vicki Weaver, not only took the Fifth Amendment but never spent a single day in jail and never stood trial for the killing.
The young Weaver boy was shot and killed after the initial gunbattle was over. He was shot in the back. No one has had to answer for the boy’s death. Shooting a person in the back is murder. His murderer will probably never stand trial.
The list of FBI misdeeds in the incident goes on and on moving evidence, destroying evidence, shredding documents, altering reports. In addition, there’s a report about the incident that has never been released to the public. It’s a 542-page document, delivered to the Department of Justice office of professional responsibility on June 10, 1994.
A year ago, I asked Rep. George Nethercutt’s office to find out when that report would be available to the public. I’m still awaiting an answer. Ronald Norvell Spokane
Government was wrong, too
In response to staff cartoonist Milt Priggee’s cartoon of July 14, the last person I wish to lionize would be Randy Weaver. No question, he is the author of many of his own troubles. But our government didn’t respond appropriately to his situation, either. Maybe the feds could publish a book, “How to murder the wife and son of a crackpot wanted for a couple weapons violations.” Wendy L. Cowden Spokane
Rogers tribute a treasure
Re: Milt Priggee’s cartoon tribute to Roy Rogers.
Finally, there is a Priggee cartoon I can agree with and treasure. We will miss our King of the Cowboys. He was our role model, our teacher and our friend. What a pity that current and future generations will not have such a wonderful man to inspire the little buckaroos. Happy trails to you, Roy, and may the Good Lord take a liking to you. Lee Hartman Hayden, Idaho
AFTERMATH
Protest turnout could’ve been bigger
It was very heartening to see that the Nazi marchers were vastly outnumbered by protesters at the Coeur d’Alene march, along with those at the rally at Gonzaga University. Approximately 1,500 citizens of the Inland Empire stood up to tell the Aryan Nations that they are wrong and also to remind ourselves to guard against the more subtle and more common bigotry.
But those at Coeur d’Alene and at Gonzaga represented probably less than one-half percent of the region’s population. We can put thousands on the streets for Bloomsday, thousand on the streets for the Lilac Parade and thousands on the streets for Hoopfest. Why can we put only 1,500 on the streets to protect America’s core value? Steve Gigliotti Davenport