All Readers Respond
- Readers Write: Grading teachers isn't enough; Teachers deserve useful evaluation and support.Letters for the Editor for the September 24 weekly print issue: When done with teacher buy-in, multiple measures, and meaningful professional development, teacher evaluation benefits entires school systems. Should teachers be graded? Yes. And so should parents, administrators, school boards, communities, and students. Evaluation shouldn't begin and end with teachers.
- Readers Write: Test scores can't measure teachers; Poor civics education threatens US democracyLetters to the Editor for the weekly print issue of September 17, 2012: Many schools no longer teach civics 鈥� or even much history 鈥� leaving students without the聽lessons that create informed, engaged citizens. A teacher's goals 鈥撀爏haping human lives, as well as imparting specific knowledge and skills in the process 鈥� can't fully be measured by numbers on a year-end test.
- Readers Write: The perils of allowing women in combatLetters to the Editor for the September 10, 2012 weekly print issue: The policy decision to allow women to serve in infantry combat should only be made after diligent consideration of the long-term effects 鈥� on women, the military, and the country.
- Readers Write: Congress must take unpopular stands, not compromise; Mike McQuery is no victim in Sandusky scandalLetters to the Editor for the September 3, 2012 weekly print issue:聽Since when are leaders expected to only do what is easy in the short term?聽It's a tremendous reach to try and justify what amounts to Mike McQueary's cowardly act by calling him a victim of male culture.
- Readers Write: Lamar Smith is wrong. Obama's immigration policy isn't amnesty.Letters to the Editor for the August 13, 2012 weekly print issue: Rep. Lamar Smith (R) of Texas mischaracterizes President Obama's recent decision to put a low priority on the deportation of some young illegal immigrants who were brought to the US as children. His op-ed is misleading.
- Readers Write: Family dinners are good investment; Both GOP and Dems lean rightLetters to the Editor for the August 6, 2012 weekly print issue: Family dinners at home cost less, are more nutritious, teach children verbal skills, and build connections. American political parties aren't governing from the extremes; they're both governing from the right.
- Readers Write: How to eliminate tax breaks (and the deficit); Wake up, 99 percentLetters to the Editor for the July 30, 2012 weekly print issue: Look at effective tax rates, cap deductions, put an expiration date on tax breaks; With the US meritocracy now based on nepotism and cronyism, the '99 percent' had better wake up and demand better.
- Readers Write: America's class divide is really an information gapLetters to the Editor for the weekly print issue of July 9, 2012:聽Information capital 鈥� the power to think and use information creatively 鈥� evolves over time as the product of a person's experiences with words and concepts. Poor children have less chance of developing it than their richer peers.
- Readers Write: The dangers of big banks and second-hand marijuana smokeLetters to the Editor for the weekly print issue of July 2, 2012: When power is concentrated 鈥� as in big banks like Jamie Dimon's JPMorgan Chase 鈥� expect some tyranny.聽Marijuana is an insidious drug, more harmful than many have been led to believe.
- Letter to the Editor: UN mission in Haiti is not 'all about scandal'Mariano Fern谩ndez Amun谩tegui, special representative of the United Nations Secretary-General in Haiti, defends the work of the UN mission (MINUSTAH) there.
- Readers Write: Saudi Arabia isn't model for reform; Flawed logic on texting and drivingLetters to the Editor for the weekly print issue of June 25, 2012: Saudi Arabia's oppression of women, foreign workers, and the Shiite minority is shocking;聽Don't jump to faulty conclusions to explain an uptick in traffic accidents after a ban on texting while driving.
- Readers Write: Conservatives can't compromise; Retirement is for cheap learningLetters to the Editor for the weekly print issue of June 18, 2012:聽How can a conservative compromise with a position that is totally against his or her own political, economic, and social philosophy? An聽important option for one's retirement years is learning stuff, at a low cost.
- Readers Write: Death penalty can reduce suffering; Gun laws protectLetters to the Editor for the June 4, 2012 weekly print magazine: We can't apply a simplistic 'cost-benefit' analysis to the death penalty.聽Stand Your Ground laws give Americans the freedom to defend ourselves with force, but don't guarantee we will use it.
- Readers Write: Does gun ownership kill or preserve life?Letters to the Editor for the weekly print issue of May 28, 2012: Armed defense is effective when talking isn't. Don't stereotype gun owners. Time to end the devastation from America's 'gun culture.'
- Readers Write: Natural gas won't save AmericaLetters to the Editor for the weekly print issue of May 21, 2012: Natural gas is a stopgap at best. What are the long-term risks of fracking? The real issue is the huge quantity of water used and chemically contaminated in the fracking process.
- Readers Write: Congress ignores calls for tax reform; Political families teach serviceLetters to the Editor for the weekly print issue of May 14, 2012: The responsibility for long-term fixes to the tax code rests with the US Congress, but聽the code has increased by聽13,564 over the past eight years. Political families aren't un-American dynasties; they're examples of service.
- Readers Write: Israel could be a threat and Obama should be praised on IranLetters to the Editor for the weekly print issue of May 7, 2012: John Bolton is wrong. Obama is protecting the US and world economy from a disastrous attack on Iran. It's Israel that has the nukes. And the best way to foment regime change in Iran is to support the opposition there.聽
- Readers Write: War fueled by defense lobby; Attack on Iran is legal; Catholics can't change faith for individual wishesLetters to the Editor for the weekly print issue of April 30, 2012: The 'appetite for war' is fueled by the arms聽lobby's appetite for profit; there's a key legal difference between a 'preemptive' and a 'preventive' attack on Iran; and Catholics don't force others to follow their beliefs, they simply demand First Amendment protections.
- Readers Write: Religion should 'render unto Ceasar'; Obamacare debate misses markLetters to the Editor for the weekly print issue of April 23, 2012: Several readers argue that protecting religious freedom can't threaten individual rights. Another says the debate over Obamacare ignores the real issue with US health-care 鈥� skyrocketing costs.
- Readers Write: Is America's gun culture useful or dangerous?Letters to the Editor for the weekly print edition of April 16, 2012: One reader argues that a recent cover story ('Inside America's gun culture') didn't give聽adequate聽coverage to the use of guns for hunting, competition, and sport. Another worries that 'any聽angry malcontent with a short fuse and a chip on his shoulder, could pull a loaded gun.'
