Letters

America's Dropouts: Who's to Blame?

Students. Teachers. Parents. TV. The Education President. Zero expectations. Feverish expectations. Our story on high school dropouts, as seen through the prism of small-town Shelbyville, Ind., brought plenty of mail--and lots of theories about who's at fault and how to help America's latest lost generation

I'm in my fourth year of teaching high school art, and I agree that there is a crisis in education [April 17]. I see kids wearing $150 shoes but complaining that they can't afford pencils or notebooks. Another problem is the antiquated way the school day remains set up. Seven to eight 50-minute class periods are less effective than three to four 90-minute classes. Alternative schools (not just for bad kids) and vocational training are imperative for solving the problem. Also, we should allow students to go to school part-time and work part-time. If their grades go down, they won't be able to keep their jobs. We have got to be as creative in our approach to education as we want our children to be.

LOURDES S. GUERRERO Chicago

Your article notes that many students drop out of school because they are bored. That is probably because our culture believes learning should always be fun and entertaining. Dropouts will find out what real boredom is like when they wind up in monotonous, dead-end jobs. But a wide range of abilities and talents exists among people. We made a big mistake when vocational education was de-emphasized or phased out.

JAMES PULLEN, ED.D. St. Louis, Mo.

I have a B.A. in History and am in the process of obtaining my teaching credentials. I am also a high school dropout. There was some encouragement for me to leave, but I made the decision. I was too smart for my own good--and too angry. After 10 years of lousy jobs, I dropped back in. My goal now is to help students avoid the foolish mistake I made 17 years ago. Like Sarah Miller in your story, I was worried that I would "look stupid," but I finally worked up the courage to go back. To Sarah I offer this advice: it is not too late to go back to school. There will be times when you feel like you won't make it; they will pass. Have faith in your abilities. You can do it.

ROBERT COWLES Las Vegas

This may come as a surprise, but I and many of my teacher colleagues don't believe in compulsory education. We'd much rather spend our precious time and resources on students who want to be in the classroom. We cannot afford to be surrogate parents to the wayward. I observed that the parent factor was noticeably absent from your article. When parents start acting like grownups and force their children to be accountable, perhaps then things will change.

JAMES V. WINTERMOTE Spring Creek, Nev.

At the very core of the dropout epidemic is the staggering reality that the vast majority of students who drop out of school have not learned to read above the most basic level. As you point out, early-literacy programs play an important role in preventing reading problems; however, it is never too late to teach students to read. In thousands of middle and high school classrooms across the country, teachers have made a commitment to raising the achievement of older struggling readers. The students lucky enough to have access to these intervention programs are learning to read, regaining their self-confidence and turning their lives around.

FRANCIE ALEXANDER CHIEF ACADEMIC OFFICER SCHOLASTIC INC. New York City

Many parents think it is the job of educators to fix the problem. Do they really think teachers wave their knowledge wands and--poof!--the student is the next Stephen Hawking? Students who want to drop out should get parental permission first and then attend a dropout seminar. They should be allowed a grace period to find a job, to work and experience the consequences. Many students feel embarrassed about leaving and don't want to come back to school shamed or disgraced. To curb the embarrassment of returning to school, dropouts should be required to make another decision: go back to work, or come back to school.

BENJAMIN CULHANE Costa Mesa, Calif.

We have an untapped resource: our senior citizens could act as mentors to struggling students. Seniors would be better able to stay connected with society, and students would better understand the past. The wisdom and experience of seniors with the vigor and enthusiasm of youth: what a combination!

NEAL ALTENBURG SR. Crawfordville, Fla.

As someone who comes from Scotland, I realize I'm no expert on the school system here. However, it seems to me that children in this country are not valued for their talents if those talents are not directed at a college education. College is not for everyone, yet those who don't have a college education appear to be seen in this country as failures. Maybe it's time for people to stop living their lives through their children and find out what their children really want to do with their lives.

ISABELLA FALCONER Houston

In the list of tips titled "5 Things Schools Can Do," you endorsed early-literacy programs for third-graders. What a novel idea! I've heard some of those early-literacy programs referred to as first and second grade. Too many parents feel that the early years are not important, that the child can "make it up later." How do I know? I taught third grade! Put the responsibility where it belongs: on Ma and Pa. I once made a father do detention to make up for the school his son missed. He did it! The principal nearly had a stroke, but the child's attendance improved remarkably. You should have enumerated "5 Things Parents Can Do."

CAROL DAVIDSON New Braunfels, Texas

I briefly entertained the idea of dropping out of high school. My father sat me down and told me in a gentle, loving manner, "If you feel you're educated enough that you don't need to continue in school, then go ahead and drop out, but you'll have to move out and support yourself since you're educated enough to do so." I didn't give it another thought.

DENISE L. PARRA Gladstone, Ore.

A General Disagreement

It's a pity that the American public was not privileged to hear the dissenting voices of professional soldiers such as Lieut. General Greg Newbold [April 17] before incompetent civilians like George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney-- and Tony Blair--launched a disastrous war. I pray that in the next presidential election someone will appear to make America a respected and honorable country once again.

DAVID LANDAU Peacehaven, England

This administration repeats lessons from our recent past. Both the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Vietnam War were also partly caused by groupthink, in which decision makers took advice only from those who shared their ideas. Bush was elected in part as the education President. An educated person should critically evaluate evidence for and against hypotheses--in this case, that Iraq had WMDs and was supporting al-Qaeda. For that, I give him an F in critical thinking and in leadership.

JOSEPH MELCHER St. Cloud, Minn.

I don't care how many generals have joined Newbold in criticizing Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. Iraq's actions were not "peripheral to the real threat," as Newbold claims. Saddam Hussein wanted to be the venture capitalist of Islamic extremism. Iraq today may be a down-and-dirty training ground for terrorists, but Saddam's Iraq was their five-star hotel and bank.

KENNETH A. RUMBARGER Trooper, Pa.

After reading Newbold's essay, I was about to write a scathing letter asking why the general waited so long to make his views known. Then I realized that I never made my views known either. I strongly opposed the Iraq invasion, but like many others, I chose inaction. I stayed silent and let others protest. I'll never know whether I could have made a difference, but I regret not having tried.

ROSEMARY GARRO TANFANI Fair Oaks, Calif.

While Newbold may have heard The Who, he clearly did not listen to the band. If he had, he would have been in tune with the thousands who protested before the war. And he would have noted the voices that tried to break through the wall of sound erected by the Republican Party. If the good general wants to say he was fooled again, he has certainly earned the right. But there were many here among us who were not fooled again.

JORGE OVALLE Bloomington, Ill.

As a former infantry Marine who served under Newbold's broad command from '95 to '99, I would like to express my deepest respect and gratitude for his speaking out publicly. I supported the war in Afghanistan and was considering going back to the corps until the Administration started rattling the saber for Iraq. Now if people ask me how I can be a Marine and not support the war, I can say, "Ask General Newbold that same question."

VINCENT BABCOCK SERGEANT, U.S.M.C. Marquette, Mich.

The Perils of Pollsters

Joe Klein and I may be miles apart in our views, but I found his story on political consultants [April 17] thought provoking--particularly the implication that one's character is defined by a stance on public issues. I believe it's the major reason the Democratic Party is in decline. Those of us across this country who are trying to help children become good, honest, loyal, hardworking citizens still tend to hold people unambiguously accountable for their personal conduct. We certainly need all the help we can get from our elected role models.

RUTH CANON Dallas

I hope we see candidates who reject insincerity and connect in a genuine way, but the cynic in me expects that the consultants might just offer the following advice after reading Klein's piece: "I've got it: you can't look like a performer. We've got to make you look genuine and appear to connect spontaneously. Let's do a focus group to see if people like genuine emotion. Then we'll find out which emotions resonate with the base, and we can script some spontaneous, emotionally real moments. Can you quote any Aeschylus?"

MATTHEW W. GOFF Austin, Texas

To paraphrase Captain Renault in Casablanca, I'm shocked, shocked that there are consultants working in politics! Give me a break, Joe. When you elitists stop covering the horse race and start addressing the issues, then consultants will have less sway over presidential elections. Heck, you guys are doing the consultants' jobs for them. You want to end the influence of media consultants on politics? Then stop playing their game, and cover campaigns in ways that benefit the American public.

BILL DELGROSSO Alexandria, Va.

In 2000 I was living in West Virginia and working for a steel mill when the steel industry was in danger. Candidate Dick Cheney visited our mill and said to us employees, "We will never lie to you." Al Gore never came. The Democrats lost the state --normally a Democratic stonghold. As long as the Electoral College exists, local issues will continue to matter, even if they do not get the attention of the national media.

PHIL ELBAZ Pittsburgh, Pa.

What it really comes down to, Mr. Klein, is what the American people see, read and hear--and how they evaluate it. After all, we are ultimately given only two choices. It just may be that the educated voters decided on the lesser of two evils rather than be influenced by what political consultants and pollsters had to say.

MAUREEN WAITE Kings Park, N.Y.

Klein's piece on the decline of character politics and the rise of the political consultant applies to politics not only in the U.S. but also in Australia.

BEN HERAGHTY Sydney

How could Klein possibly write an article about consultants and presidential politics and never once mention Bill Clinton and Dick Morris? Clinton's presidency was one long eight-year campaign. Now Hillary Clinton is starting to pursue the same strategy.

NICK YANUZZI Thousand Oaks, Calif.

Up from the Ooze

Scientists are hailing Tiktaalik roseae, or the fossil "fishapod," as evidence of evolution [April 17]. Yet in the same article, they admit that the elongated fin of the fishapod would have been "worse than useless" on land and that the appendage is only "anatomically"--and not functionally--intermediate between lobed fins and legs. The article presented more evidence of the grip that evolution has on scientists than it did for the theory.

JEFF PRATHER Diamond Springs, Calif.

Here we go again. One transitional fossil is found, and presto!--Darwinism is undeniable. Paleontologist Michael Novacek says some people will never be convinced and conveniently ignores the growing noncreationist voices of variance. The fishapod could be a link--or a strange animal. Without a worldwide fossil record of continuous transformation, it is far from a slam dunk for Darwin's theory in action.

MICHAEL CAMP Poulsbo, Wash.

Michael J. Novacek's viewpoint sustains the old-fashioned belief that biological evolution is incompatible with the idea of a Creator. Is it so incomprehensible that a Creator used evolution to bring organisms into being? There is incontrovertible evidence for biological evolution. Why couldn't a God have created life and enabled it to evolve by what we call natural selection? We must not box ourselves into one viewpoint.

IKECHUKWU OBIALO AZUONYE Purley, England

The fishapod article and accompanying Viewpoint used straw-man arguments in an attempt to discredit intelligent design and creationism. They even went so far as to insinuate that without a belief in amoebas-to-man evolution, we are doomed to succumb to a pandemic. Nonsense! One doesn't need to believe in unobservable and unrepeatable macroevolution to have a working knowledge of genetics. Creationists and proponents of intelligent design are quite at home with the concepts of Mendelian variation within species and natural selection. They simply object to wild extrapolations beyond observable limits of genetic variability. Don't hide behind the cloak of science when it's clear that you're an evolution evangelist.

DWAYNE SPIES Chilliwack, B.C.

The coverage of the fishapod was excellent. The classification of species gives the impression of significant changes having occurred within a single generation, a misunderstanding often used by antievolutionists. But a species is a snapshot that represents a lineage at a convenient point. Every child has differences from its parents, and over a great number of generations some changes will spread through a population, owing to selective breeding. The fishapod is a valuable find as a missing link--another snapshot in a continuum of change. Understanding that such changes are constant should help people find common ground on evolution.

ROBERT FRASER Kingston, Ont.

Olmert's Ambitions

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert states that it is time for Israel to end the struggle with the Palestinians with the goal of "living in peace" [April 17]. Can Olmert explain how he would achieve peace by unilaterally setting the border, thereby annexing as much as half of the West Bank and Jerusalem and leaving 4 million Palestinians in disconnected cantons?

MIKE BARNES Watford, England

Still Struggling in Kashmir

Strangely enough, beauty with brains and guts is what comes to my mind when I think of Kashmir [April 17]. My assumptions about the war-broken land were completely proved wrong when I visited two years ago. The landscape contained not only lush mountains and breathtaking scenery but also amazing numbers of schools and students. To see Kashmir in ruins again pains me, but I know it will make a comeback. I will once again be impressed by its people's strength of mind and body.

URFA SUHAIB KHAN Lahore

Unbearable--and Unmissable

As upsetting as I expect it will be, I still would like to see United 93 [April 17]. That plane's story was the only relatively "good" news on that horrible day. When passenger Todd Beamer said "Let's roll!" and led those heroes forward in their charge on the terrorists in the cockpit, he was partly inspired by a Teddy Roosevelt quotation praising the valiant person "who at the worst if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly." This movie honors the passengers, and I will try to honor them by seeing it, no matter how painful it is.

RICHARD SIEGELMAN Plainview, N.Y.

Match Point

Your numbers item noted the big gap in winnings paid to men and women champions at "Wimbledon, the only Grand Slam event that still pays men more" [April 17]. And why not? The women's matches are the best of only three sets, not five. Less work means less pay. I'm a firm believer in women's rights--equal pay for equal work!

PETER A. HYDE Toronto