Vouchers would create more problems than they fix
Re: “For schools, one size does not fit all,” Dec. 3
Yes, our public schools could be improved, but Frederick Hess’ suggestions would make matters far worse. Vouchers for private, mostly religious schools, would violate at least 38 state constitutions and would also tend to separate kids by religion, class and ethnicity.
They would also violate the religious freedom of taxpayers by making them pay for pervasively sectarian institutions they would not voluntarily choose to support.
Americans have voted on vouchers and similar schemes many times and have always voted them down by landslide margins. We can have all the variety we need in our publicly controlled public schools.
Kenneth A. Stevens
Columbia, Md.
Other nations allow openly gay soldiers to serve
Re: “Experiment will destroy world’s greatest military,” from readers, Dec. 3
Mr. Jacobs may have “a very hard time picturing two Marine sergeants holding hands,” but when it comes to gays serving in the military, America would be no “experiment.”
In fact, the time of experimentation is long over. Currently five of the top 10 strongest military forces in the world — Russia (since 2003), the U.K. (since 2000), France, Germany and Japan — all allow openly gay service members. By any measure, they have not been destroyed by this policy.
If the United States truly has the greatest military in the world, why does Mr. Jacobs feel that such a small change — from hidden gay soldiers to honest gay soldiers — would wreak such havoc that it would topple the institution?
Paaqua Grant
Arlington
Wikileaks exposes world leaders’ duplicity
Wikileaks founder and former hacker Julian Assange may not be a hero, but he has opened the eyes of common folks to the follies of world leaders who dabble in war as though it were a sport.
The leaked cables also contain a wealth of revelations we should analyze and debate for a long time. For example, while anguished British students were marching on the streets of London against rising tuition, Prince Andrew was falconeering in Morocco and hunting in Tanzania with his despotic Arab pals.
Our own federal government poured billions into the coffers of Hamid Karzai, a man repeatedly judged by our diplomats to be a weak, ineffective and corrupt leader of a country soaked in graft from top to bottom.
Through WikiLeaks, we see a diplomatic world of intrigue, where people think one thing, and say or do another. Americans need this refresher courses to decrease their oil consumption and starve the Middle East beast of the money it pours into terror.
Usha Nellore
Bel Air, Md.
