Baltimore mom did the right thing
If one can reach Toya Graham, the lady who whipped her boy and brought him home from a life of crime in Baltimore, I want to give her a nomination for my Bill of Rights Award.
This was a beautiful move and one which I call The Swat Heard 'Round the World. Mind you, if it had been a white lady whipping her child to save her child from crime, she would have been dragged through the ideological morass of errors called the judiciary. But this one was unafraid to do the right thing, and her deed will be echoed over and over.
The problem we have is that the psychological do-gooders never had an old-fashioned correction. Their parents didn't love them enough to keep them in line with punishment, thus it bothers them to see others get a well-deserved spanking.
Good for you, Toya. You did what was normal. Maybe it will catch on.
June Griffin
***
Better education is investment in kids
I was born poor in Kansas, got good grades in high school because my parents insisted I study. I won a scholarship to a university where I worked hard, got a great job upon graduating, spent a year at Oak Ridge to obtain the equivalent of a master's in nuclear engineering and went on to senior positions from which I retired with a decent annuity.
I feel sorry for these young people in Baltimore. They have not been pushed to learn. In fact they don't have the slightest understanding of what it is to suddenly grasp a concept.
When I lived in Maryland, my dear wife went back to work so we could send our children to private schools. The Maryland public school systems were overrun with teachers more interested in indoctrination in political views and letting children "do their thing" than teaching reading, writing, history, government and mathematics. The few teachers who tried were often ridiculed for their efforts.
This country will continue to decline unless we start to turn our education systems around.
Gene L. Rogers
***
Don't blame schools for civics teaching
About the Free Press Sunday editorial titled, "Don't know much about history." I enjoyed the editorial and agree that our current youth need more education and a better sense of U.S. history.
Unfortunately, you left out an important fact. Over the last 10 years or longer the Republican Party has focused on reducing the public education system.
You can't keep cutting funds, teachers and increasing classroom size and still expect students to learn at an acceptable level.
The article mentions "private schools." You need to check funding and classroom size in private schools vs. public schools and then maybe you will have your answer.
Nelson R. Sullivan, Hixson