Response to criticism of think-tank studies
Re: “‘Awards’ may provide think tanks with a reality check,” Jan. 14 Perspective article.
University of Colorado associate professor Kevin Welner did your readers, and several of the nation’s finest public policy research organizations, a disservice.
Perhaps Welner did not read our report carefully. It at no point claims, as he states, “to demonstrate the success of California’s Proposition 227.” It instead demonstrates how certain districts that have adopted new policies to emphasize early English fluency – far from being “English only,” as our paper notes – have improved English learners’ standardized test scores. All data comes directly from the California Department of Education.
It was noteworthy that every one of the well-respected organizations singled out by Welner supports a position contrary to the National Education Association’s legislative agenda. According to public filings with the U.S. Department of Labor, both organizations that sponsor Dr. Welner’s Think Tank Review Project – the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Arizona State University – received at least $200,000 in Partnership Development grants from the NEA during the last two reporting years. I find it troubling that this fact escaped the full disclosure Dr. Welner’s misleading article purported to establish.
Don Soifer, Executive Vice President, Lexington Institute, Arlington, Va.
Not all consumers have the same agenda
Re: “‘New energy future’ touted in legislative package,” Jan. 18 news story.
Denver Post writers should become aware in this new century that those who purport to “speak for the consumer” are often advancing an agenda that not all of their “consumers” share.
For example, in the story about the energy package that Colorado’s Democrats are advancing, Republicans and electric industry representatives were cited on how the Democrats are so “willing to pass price increases on to consumers.”
Fine, I say! I am an energy “consumer,” but I am also a citizen who has come to understand that, when we think of ourselves primarily as “consumers,” we give ourselves permission to ignore the extent to which we are consuming the planet and our own children’s futures. This, of course, suits the industries for whom mindless consumption means huge short-term profitability.
So I would appreciate it if, whenever you go to the industry to get their words on behalf of the poor, benighted consumer who might have to start paying what things are actually worth, you also give ear to those of us who are trying to learn how to be citizens of a healthier planet and are willing, as consumers, to start paying whatever that costs.
George Sibley, Gunnison
Turning lemons into (ice-cold) lemonade
I loved the picture of the kids sledding on wakeboards equipped with lawn chairs that ran with the story on the ice storm in Texas (“Ice storm spreads havoc across Texas,” Jan. 18). In spite of the weather, they were so innovative and clearly having so much fun. It reminded me of a Norman Rockwell painting.
Corinne Nylander, Denver
Chaput’s political stand
Letter-writer Tom Cladis (Jan. 22 Open Forum) writes that “trying to influence public servants is seriously flawed religious doctrine.” I take that to mean he thinks that Archbishop Charles Chaput should not comment on Gov. Bill Ritter’s plans with respect to “family planning programs.”
Nonsense; religious people have taken part in eradicating government evil for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. It was religious people who opposed slavery in both Great Britain and the United States. Religious leaders, including Rev. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Bishop von Gallen and Pope Pius XII, opposed the murderous policies of Nazi Germany. The civil rights movement during the 1960s in the United States was led by religious leaders, the greatest of whom was the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
By standing up for human life, Archbishop Chaput falls squarely into that tradition.
Harry F. Kempke, Lakewood
Buchwald’s last words
Re: “A farewell from Art Buchwald,” Jan. 19 column.
Thanks for featuring the last column of the late Art Buchwald. It reminds us of our own mortality and our own short time on this planet. I often reflect on and quote the words of the great ex-UCLA basketball coach John Wooden – “Make every day your masterpiece” – which I am sure Buchwald did in his own way.
Art Knott, Denver
Single women a majority
Re: “Single women reach the tipping point,” Jan. 23 Cindy Rodríguez column.
In her column regarding single women outnumbering married women, Cindy Rodríguez states that people should get off the backs of these single women about getting married. She says, “Why should the dominant group be hassled by the minority”?
This is too rich to be believed. Where has Ms. Rodríguez been the last 30 years while the dominant male group has been peppered by the non-dominant female group? What about the fight for civil rights for black people? I guess they should have recognized their place in society and just shut up and moved to the back of the bus.
Mike Hudson, Pueblo
Re: “Recess takes a break as lessons lengthen,” Jan. 22 news story.
Did the Greeley school board members ever go to school themselves? I think we need to get the Teamsters to represent elementary school students.
The Greeley educational adults took away the youngsters’ break time in the a.m. and the p.m., and I would bet they’ve got their eyes on the kids’ lunch next, all in the name of “learning,” which evidently doesn’t happen during recess.
I am more and more disheartened that things have seemed to work out with adults in charge of the lives of children because we make so many silly decisions “on their behalf.”
One of the teachers in the article mentioned that the students stand up from time to time and do the Chicken Dance. The Chicken Dance is actually being done by the board members and educators as they make decisions and propagate policies more in line with the training of chickens than educating small persons who trust us to do the right thing.
Rocky Hill, Denver
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