More money doesn’t improve schools
Re: “Pay for school improvements by taxing the rich,” from readers, Sept. 30
Edd Doerr argues for the same old failed “solution” to fix public schools: more tax money. His is a tired argument that uses children as pawns in a stealth attack against businesses and families. Even if the tax rate was 100 percent, there would never be enough money to satisfy those invested in the warehousing of kids in public schools.
Money cannot buy the values at the root of intellectual growth in children: strong loving families, cultivation of free inquiry, and a truly selfless love of neighbor. These things must be inspired by the example of individuals acting freely.
Public school curricula often distort and redefine these values, then impose them, serving the agenda of social engineers. By urging more taxation as a fix, Doerr seems to forget Einstein’s definition of insanity: “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Stella Green
Potomac
Better language education needed
Re: “When educational alarm bells ring off-key,” Sept. 28
For all the recent trumpeting appearing in The Examiner about how glorious and great education in America is, there is one area of academic concern which needs serious makeover: foreign language instruction.
The day of American isolation from the rest of the world is over, for better or for worse. Given that English is now the premier world international language, that fact does not presage the disappearance of other major languages from the world scene any time soon. The more languages we know, the more access we have to information and knowledge that will either corroborate or contradict what we learn through the medium of English. Knowledge of foreign languages is a great way to do reality checks! As the late President Reagan used to say: “Trust but verify.”
Many public schools already teach French and Spanish. This is fine as far as it goes, but it does not go far enough. Insofar as we will deal with the Islamic world for the foreseeable future, for instance, instruction in Muslim-world languages is particularly important. Then, those going into science or technology should seriously consider study of German, Russian and Japanese. Finally, we cannot forever ignore the obvious front-and-center appearance of China onto the world stage.
America ignores at its own future peril the necessity to expand the teaching of foreign languages in public schools. If we are to successfully compete in an international economy, instruction in most of the world’s major languages is a must for the 21st century.
Lawrence K. Marsh
Gaithersburg
What caused bag tax revenue shortfall?
Re: “D.C. bag tax revenue lower than expected,” Sept. 24
Yesterday’s Examiner reports the “extraordinary success” D.C. has achieved in getting people to use reusable shopping bags and the allegedly consequent lower amount of trash being found downriver by instituting their 5 cent bag tax. But today’s Examiner reports all tax sources down 5.5 percent except deed taxes, meaning sales, meal, and business tax revenues are down. The Examiner needs to examine whether and how much of this decline is a result of people not shopping in D.C. because having a bag tax is so off-putting?
Dino Drudi
Alexandria
