Media fails to ID terror victims as Christians
Once again a news story depicting the horrors of Boko Haram fails to identify the victims correctly. The vast majority, perhaps all the dead in Dalori village and the nearby refugee camps who were killed by Boko Haram, were Christians. The Associated Press Story on Feb. 1 never mentions this fact. This is not a new practice for AP. During the years of Muslim aggression in Sudan, the perpetrators were identified as Northern Sudanese vs. Southern Sudanese or Saharan Sudanese versus sub-Saharan Sudanese. It was almost always Muslims attacking Christians. Why are the major news agencies so unwilling to identify the base cause of these conflicts? Radical Muslims want to wipe out everyone who disagrees with them. Please be more honest and accurate in your reporting.
CARL BARRINGTON, LAWRENCEVILLE
Evaluating teacher performance not easy
(In response to “Teachers frustrated over reviews,” News, Jan. 31) Yes, teacher performance should be evaluated, as is the performance of other professionals. Key question: is a valid instrument used to evaluate performance? How are other professionals evaluated? Are doctors evaluated according to how well their patients thrive? Is their salary linked to their patients’ progress? Are attorneys evaluated according to, and are their salaries linked to, the success or failure of their clients’ cases? If not, could the reason be that those factors are largely out of their control and, therefore, not a valid performance measure?
Although educators are referred to as “professionals,” they are actually not considered professional enough to be evaluated as other professionals are evaluated. Instead, their performance is evaluated according to the performance of the immature, underdeveloped students that their profession attempts to educate, and largely accomplishes thanks to the expertise, dedication, long hours, persistence, and sacrifices of these underpaid and unappreciated “professionals.”
JEANNE TONKIN, MARIETTA
