In response to Our View — Longer school year could give students an edge up. What has happened to common sense in America? Did it die with Mark Twain and Will Rogers? I can write you several pages concerning this issue, but why should I when a simple analogy can explain what I want to say. “If one has a leaky faucet does one say that it will get better on its own if we just give it a few more days? If anything the faucet will get worse. In other words, giving the problem more days to leak is not going to fix the problem. The problem starts at home with the parents and their expectations for their children’s education. If the parents are not willing to show an interest and help their kids, then how is staying longer in school going to make any difference? In other words, fix the faucet. People do not learn by osmosis. Even good students will get tired and burnt out. (Even a sponge once saturated can no longer soak up anymore liquid.)
The ongoing problem is that no one in power knows how to solve the problem or they do not want to touch the problem (which starts with the parents ... voting parents) so they just dance around the issue costing tax payers more money for bad results. As Will Rogers said, “It’s a good thing we don’t get all the government we pay for.”
Furthermore, the reason Asian children routinely register better math and science scores than the U.S. is once again the parents’ expectations on their children’s level of educational achievement.
Mark Twain was also a man of common sense who once said that, “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.” Come on, politicians and school boards, this Mark Twain’s saying applies to you. Education is fine, but use some common sense that hopefully you have acquired somewhere along the way.
In closing, Mark Twain summed it up when he said, “In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then He made school boards.”
Gary Price
Anderson
Letters
Letter: Education problem starts at home
What has happened to common sense in America?
- Letters
-
-
Letter: Union attitude must prevail for recovery
Any recovery for the middle class, in the recovery of our economy, will be led by the recovery of the union attitude in America. Nothing else.
- Letter: Founding fathers were humanists
-
Letter: Lutz not representing the working class
I feel bad that Rep. Lutz (R) is sad, because Democrats at the Statehouse are representing the working class people of Indiana. While he is representing big business.
-
Viewpoint:: Washington must wake up to missile threat
Three years after President Obama opened an outstretched hand to Iran and attempted to reset relations with Russia, the former has restarted its drive to build nuclear weapons including recent missile testing and saber rattling while the latter has dropped its diplomatic relations to Cold War temperatures.
-
Letter: Consumer-driven economy will pay off debt
To save America some money — by acclimation of course — let’s not have a presidential election in 2012. We already have a good president who will do his best to kill all Republican bills (DOA) and, consequently, create more good-paying jobs in the $30 per hour range.
-
Letter: Gingrich cashes in on political amnesia
Rasmussen says that Romney has flattened nationally. Why?
Two reasons seem to tell the tale. Gingrich has shown that he will fight, and Romney is a Mormon, believed to be a “cult” by a majority of evangelicals. -
Letter: Hiring Winkler not wise spending
As a taxpayer I want to know that my taxes are being spent wisely. Hiring Greg Winkler at a salary of $126,000 is not wise spending.
-
Letter: Bill of Rights being nullified by new law
President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act on New Year’s Eve. I doubt many Americans noticed its implications because they do not yet comprehend the big picture. This law, coupled with the Patriot Act, is paving the way for America’s direction toward tyranny.
-
Letter: $14 trillion debt started by previous president
I’m a proud atheist who’s lucky enough to know the difference between fact and fantasy.
-
Letter: Economy putting people in the gutters
We are now getting the results of putting people in the gutters. We need to take a second look at our government and its policies. It’s not working.
- More Letters Headlines
-
Letter: Union attitude must prevail for recovery
