More money won’t fix broken schools
To the editor:
I have heard the words “taxes” and “education” used in the same sentence so often that they seem to go together like love and marriage. Raise the mining tax for education. A gross receipts tax and a property tax for education. If you add the words “for education” to any tax, how could anyone possibly be opposed to that? If any legislator stands in opposition to a tax “for education,” he or she will be will be considered a pariah for having little concern for “the children.”
It wasn’t always like this. There was a time when you didn’t hear as much about funding for education. It happened locally, and parents were concerned. You would think that reading, writing and arithmetic were different then, because now more than 30 percent of the students who finish high school are nearly illiterate. We have built a huge bureaucracy, beginning with the U.S. Department of Education, that seems to have forgotten what its purpose is. Their primary concern is that Nan and Bert are given a nutritious breakfast and lunch and get along with the other diverse groups. Whether they learn to read and write is secondary.
Lack of funding isn’t the problem. If we throw more money down this bureaucratic drain, I am sure we will hear them crying the same blues next year. There must be some fundamental changes in our society. Parents need to take responsibility for the children they brought into this world.
All kids don’t have the same potential. Some will be doctors and some will be laborers. We need them all. Don’t send your kid to college to take remedial classes, hoping that he or she will become another Albert Einstein.
Education has become today’s sacred cow, but we are feeding it too much, and the milk is going sour.
BILL DIRKSE
LAS VEGAS
Kopay was first
To the editor:
In response to NBA player Jason Collins revealing his homosexuality, reader Steve Danning (“Collins not the first athlete to come out,” Sunday letter), argues that Glenn Burke, not Mr. Collins, was the first major-sport pro athlete to come out of the closet. Mr. Burke was a baseball player for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics from 1976 to 1979.
Have we forgotten the bravery of David Kopay? He came out in 1975, after a long NFL career. He wrote a popular book about the situation. He recently gave $1 million to his alma mater, the University of Washington.
We are maturing as a society and learning to accept people on their merits. That’s progress.
MIKE SCHAEFER
LAS VEGAS
Madam President
To the editor:
Steve Sebelius’ Sunday column (“Are we ready for ‘Madam President’?”) would’ve been somewhat of an anachronism if it had been written five years ago. Today, a discussion of voter reactions toward the possibility of a female president is simply outdated and irrelevant. Of course the U.S. electorate is ready to elect a woman, and it has been ready to do so for some time.
However, the mention of Hillary Clinton and EMILY’S List does throw doubt on whether this is really a good idea or not.
Mrs. Clinton, who only became a public figure and achieved some political success because of her marriage, is a good example of someone who should be kept out of responsible positions of any kind. In her roles as unofficial adviser to President Bill Clinton, United States senator and secretary of state, she has proved ineffective at best, often downright incompetent and borderline disastrous.
As for EMILY’s List, it is unabashedly, radically pro-abortion. Is that what we really need in this country? More public policy emphasis on abortion? Really?
And as for any hope that electing women will somehow improve our chances of solving our national problems, let me just mention the names Pelosi, Boxer, Feinstein, Warren and Murray. Enough said.
JAMES MOLDENHAUER
NORTH LAS VEGAS
Self-funded pension
To the editor:
After reading Glenn Cook’s column in Sunday’s newspaper (“Shining a light on pension benefits”), as a retired state employee, I felt compelled to respond to some of his uninformed statements about state employees’ pensions and hopefully clear some of the fog from his glasses.
Nevada state employees do not have Social Security deductions taken from their paychecks, and therefore are not eligible for Social Security benefits.
Maybe the amounts deducted from my pay were not enough to totally fund my pension. With investments and interest, they should have been. I didn’t calculate the long-term math, but as far as I know, my pension was self-funded, not taxpayer funded.
ROBERT J. ROSIN
LAS VEGAS
Water politics
To the editor:
Rancher Dean Baker may see some value in pumping water from Snake Valley to Las Vegas, but I don’t (“Rancher fears water grab ‘disaster,’ ” Sunday Review-Journal).
Water conservation programs implemented by Pat Mulroy have been outstanding, but the proposed multibillion-dollar pipeline to pump groundwater from the Snake Valley to Las Vegas is based on greed.
Real estate developers, the gaming industry and unions like growth, but residents prefer better living conditions. Bigger isn’t always better.
Incumbent politicians have priorities, and the greatest of these is raising campaign funds. Guess why they support growth over better living conditions? Greed. Let’s not worry about the costs of construction, pumping, maintenance and energy consumption. The first order of business is getting re-elected.
ALBERT M. NEUMANN
LAS VEGAS
