Comments on: Scary, Out-of-Touch, Stuffy Old Men…

By: auch6963

auch6963 — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 11:46:11 +0000

Hi Nora. Thanks for posting. And you’re right — being poor is not an excuse for an individual not to succeed. We all have challenges, and we certainly cannot expect others or institutions to provide for us. It’s our own work that gets us ahead. That said, my vision of the role of government is that of a referee. The referee ensures that rules are enforced and the game is played fairly. In the best cases, you are hardly aware that the referee is involved at all. So when I say that public education works okay for some but not so much for the poor, what I mean is a kid in a well-funded, functional district has an obvious advantage over a kid from a poorly-funded, broken district. The game is uneven and the rules not fairly enforced. What we are free to disagree on is what we should do about that. (But one thing we both do seem to agree on — rich or poor, education has to start with good parenting.) Thanks again!
John

By: Nora Boguslaski

Nora Boguslaski — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 19:28:34 +0000

Just a comment about your cartoon in The Grand Rapids Press, June 2 paper. I think public education needs to be fixed, but government involvement is not the solution. The less government in our lives the better. You state, Public education needs to be fixed, it works okay for some but for many – especially the poor – it is an expensive failure, right? I don’t get that.
What does being poor have to do with doing well in school and becoming productive in society. What we need is more parent involvement from the time a child starts school. The parents and teachers need to impress on the kindergartners or first graders that it is up to the STUDENT to be self motivated. My husbands family was poor and out of the four boys and a girl they have become a mechanical engineer, a chemist with a PHd. in organic chemistry from Notre Dame who owns his own business, a dentist, a pharmacist, and a small business owner. They paid for their own schooling, although once again they were poor. And Obamacare are a farce.
Nora Boguslaski

By: John

John — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 01:29:24 +0000

The inaccurate jump shot I can live with — it’s the blown layups that are killing me!

By: WILDMAN

WILDMAN — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 00:29:41 +0000

As usual, you are spot on John! Now, if only your jump shot was as accurate… 😮