RURAL EDUCATION
Response to "Location limits learning options," News, Nov. 18
Thanks to the AJC, rural Georgia’s decrepit educational system is exposed. At the core of this problem are the dismal job prospects for adults in rural Georgia. This situation aggravates the abysmal educational environment for their children. With a majority of rural children living in poverty, and the strong correlation between poverty and educational achievement, there’s no doubt that until we address poverty, our kids’ futures will continue to be greatly limited.
As a result of a depressed economy, local tax revenues are weak — thus depriving funding for better facilities and more educational opportunities for our kids. As such, the entire outlook and expectations of these communities are dampened. Unless we demand that our elected leaders address the dearth of good-paying jobs in rural areas, these kids will be stuck in a cycle of poverty and undeveloped potential. These kids deserve better.
DON MCADAM, SANDY SPRINGS
AGENDA 21
Teens know better
than some senators
Now that Jay Bookman has revealed the truth (“Let’s drop Agenda 21 nonsense,” Opinion, Nov. 18), I can finally come out of the U.N. closet and confess that Agenda 21 is real: I can control every mind around me — except that of my wife.
I not only use a highly suspicious expression such as “International Baccalaureate,” I teach it. And get this: My students read Greek plays and Greek philosophers. Get it? A little Sophocles and Socrates surely will ripen them into hopeless lives of socialist bankruptcy, a prospect too luridly asinine to contemplate — that is, apparently, unless one holds elective office in Georgia.
My high school students are too smart and sophisticated to listen to such guff, but some of the most senior members of the state Senate sit and take it for an hour. And they blame teachers for the state of education in Georgia.
ZACH ETHERIDGE, ATLANTA
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
Intolerant liberals
go after businesses
One of the most fundamental values of our country is our respect for freedom of speech. If someone disagrees with me, he should have the right to express his opinion, and I should have the right to express my opinion, and an informed public can decide for themselves.
A frequent strategy of the liberal advocates, however, is to try to silence anyone who disagrees with them, and to try to harm them financially (recent examples are Chick-fil-A and Papa John’s Pizza). This is a disgusting violation of the principle of free speech, which was so important to this country’s founders.
BILL WHITLOW, AUBURN
DAVID PETRAEUS
Writer lacks expertise
to talk of ‘narcissism’
Columnist Amity Shlaes accuses David Petraeus of narcissism in his fateful relationship with his biographer, Paula Broadwell (“Petraeus isn’t first leader tripped up by narcissism,” Opinion, Nov. 17).
She ascertains this, despite having no education in psychology or psychiatry. Further, her career has been heavily involved in ruminations about economics — a far cry from studies of raw human emotions. Truly, whatever happened between Mr. Petraeus and Ms. Broadwell is their own business (as long as no national security risk was involved), and as far as narcissism is concerned, Ms. Shlaes needs to look no further than into her own mirror.
FRANK BRENNAN, ACWORTH
