New fight song for a no-guns campus
Oh! I’m a rambling wreck from Georgia Tech
And I am still totally disarmed.
Please don’t come back
For my new laptop pack
Because we are all thoroughly alarmed.
I’d threaten you with my water pistol
But they took that away, too.
So about all we can hope for
Is to shout formulas at you.
ROBERT REDMOND SR., CANTON
Vo-tech offers viable career path
Maureen Downey’s column “Trading Up? Schools Embrace Revitalized Vo-Tech” (Opinion, Oct. 18) discussed the brighter spotlight on career and technical education in Georgia and elsewhere. For too long, we’ve been seen as “those programs” located down the hall or down the road. Even as student-loan debt rises, affordable CTE programs at America’s public high schools, junior and community colleges remain one of this country’s best-kept secrets.
Our biggest challenge continues to be getting parents to view career and technical education as a viable career path. There are many careers for which a person can complete a certificate program within two years, and for less than $5,000 per year in tuition. I would encourage parents, teachers, guidance counselors and school administrators to talk to all students about careers starting in middle school or earlier. One career and technical class in an area that interests you may lead to a meaningful career.
TIM LAWRENCE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SKILLSUSA
Repeat offenses don’t merit mercy
I might be more forgiving of Tyrone Brooks’ “inept fumblings,” as Roy Barnes characterized it (“Stalwarts of civil rights movement plead for mercy,” News, Nov. 5), if his mismanagement of charity donations had occurred once or twice and only involved a few thousand dollars. However, his “fumblings” occurred again and again over a 15-year period in which he intentionally put almost $1 million into his personal pocket. Instead of “fumbling,” let’s call it what it really is: just plain theft.
Is this the behavior of a person the African-American community should be putting on a pedestal and considering a role model for youth to follow? I think not. He has earned prison time. Make him serve it.
P.D. GOSSAGE, JOHNS CREEK
