Letters to the Editor | Feb. 1, 2024

Will Bunch’s piece on the cruelty associated with executions resonated with me. My father was a veterinarian who occasionally had to put pets to sleep at the request of the owners. I often assisted by holding the pet in case it reacted poorly to the needle injection. It never ceased to amaze me when the drug of choice was injected and, in mere seconds, the animal went limp as it expired. Why can’t we treat humans just as compassionately?

John Bryer, Downingtown

Susan L. Gibbs’s piece about the boat her grandfather designed — the S.S. United States — is not convincing enough to justify leaders (presumably public officials) saving the ship. She mentions recent “transformative” design and financial plans. Where are the private developers ready to invest money or exert political clout to get tax credits or other government funding support, like what is happening with the proposed 76ers downtown stadium?

Savvy private developers may have concluded that refurbishing a rusty old ship with the modern systems and amenities expected in a modern hotel is not profitable. The maintenance cost of keeping a ship seaworthy on a river might be prohibitive. And where does one build “acres of green space” around that vessel along the Delaware River?

Josh Shapiro and Cherelle L. Parker have pressing priorities that supersede nostalgic projects that private developers won’t touch.

Rosamond Kay, Philadelphia

Is Janine Yass serious? In a recent Inquirer letter, she writes that “Schools of choice have much more flexibility in removing bad teachers, and the students’ outcomes show it.”

Yet, Yass is surely aware of the substandard quality of the Boys’ Latin charter school in West Philadelphia, which she had founded. Only 30% of the sixth through 12th grade Boys’ Latin students performed proficiently or better in English Language Arts (ELA) in 2022, while only 2% performed as proficient or advanced in math. Even sixth through 12th grade students in underresourced Philadelphia district schools surpassed those numbers, with 40% performing proficiently or better in ELA and 16% performing at least proficiently in math.

Yass imagines that the problem with the city’s school district is that it lacks the flexibility to remove bad teachers, when the reality is that Philadelphia lacks the money to attract many good educators away from wealthier suburban schools that can pay better salaries.

Isn’t it time that we stop indulging the misguided fantasies that this rich suburban woman has of saving Philadelphia’s students, and we begin to implement last year’s Commonwealth Court decision to properly fund public education in Philadelphia and other underresourced school districts across the state?

Coleman Poses, Philadelphia

Thank you for continuing to publish Jeffrey Barg, “The Grammarian.” His recent piece on the frightening limitations placed on dictionary access in the state of Florida should be a wake-up call for many. Words and language have immense power, and they can inspire meaningful change. Young people — such as the Florida students Barg described, whose political leaders don’t trust them with access to Merriam-Webster — should be inspired to use their voices, not told what to think. I appreciate The Grammarian fighting to preserve our language at a time when many people in power want to diminish or constrain it.

Daniel Masse, Media

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