Letters to the Editor | Feb. 10, 2023

As a former teacher for 39 years in public and Catholic schools in the Philadelphia suburbs, it amazes me that none of the people in power addresses the main causes of teacher shortages. Yes, the pay is low, teaching is stressful, and, contrary to the cavalier attitude that anyone can teach, it ain’t so. One glaring reason why people are running from the profession lately is that student behavior is poor and getting worse. Parents are not parenting responsibly. They must stress the importance of education and respectful behavior and attitudes toward teachers, administrators, and their fellow schoolmates. Parents, help your child drill for a test and check their assignments; their homework is your homework. Children need structure, respectful discipline, and parental consequences at home.

A recent trend in education is toward not disciplining disruptive children. How can a classroom run successfully when one or more poorly behaved students are demanding all of the teacher’s attention? Where have the alternative education programs gone for the disruptive students? Those programs are too costly, so problem students return to the general population. Same with special-needs children. No one is served sufficiently. Teachers have also become targets for certain political ideologies. Certain outspoken factions are uncomfortable with particular opinions and thoughts that are and are not covered in the K-12 curriculum. Instead of taking the initiative of researching both sides of issues and respecting that a professional teacher will teach authentic facts while addressing various attitudes, those adult groups ban the topic, the book, and vilify the teacher. For another reason, school violence, check the national news for those stories. Does this sound like a profession to pursue?

Judy DeSimone, West Chester

I want to thank Inquirer reporter Julia Terruso for the article explaining who Sen. John Fetterman and other members of Congress invited to the State of the Union speech. I found it inspirational to read the stories of those selected. My heart was especially touched when I read the reason behind Sen. Fetterman’s commitment to criminal justice reform. His statement, “We should not be a society about vengeance, we should be a society about redemption,” made me proud that he has joined Sen. Bob Casey representing Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate. In the book, Life Lessons from St. Thérèse of Lisieux, there is a section on how a distorted view of God’s justice can validate violence in our society, far different than the response of God’s merciful love freely given. Let’s join Sen. Fetterman in pushing for second chances. We all need them.

Mary DiVito, Philadelphia

The Chinese balloon incursion into American airspace is reminiscent of the U-2 spy plane incident involving the U.S. and the Soviet Union in 1960. A Paris summit between President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev ended abruptly, and a planned Eisenhower trip to Moscow was canceled — similar to the cancellation of U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to China. The fallout from the downing of that spycraft in 1960 contributed to a more extreme Cold War. The Berlin Wall went up in 1961, and a nuclear confrontation was narrowly avoided during the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. Hopefully, the incompetence of the Biden administration will not cause an unnecessary confrontation with President Xi Jinping and China — although I’m not optimistic. To paraphrase George Santayana, he who is ignorant of history is doomed to repeat it — or possibly create a worse scenario.

Ron Smith, Brigantine, ronaldjsmithsr@comcast.net

Did lawyers for the Republicans defending the state’s school funding system really argue before Judge Renée Cohn Jubelirer that some children should be deemed only to be worthy of minimum-wage fast-food jobs when they are 14 and thus don’t need algebra? The GOP used to be the party of “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.” Now it seems to want to take away the boots. All children should be entitled to a good public education in Pennsylvania’s K-12 schools. I applaud the judge’s decision.

Jeanette Viala, Havertown

A new poll reinforces that few of us are enthusiastic about a Joe Biden vs. Donald Trump presidential rematch. Almost two-thirds of Democrats and almost half of Republicans do not want to see Biden and Trump, respectively, as their party’s nominee. Trump has already declared that he’s a candidate for the Republican nomination. Biden has not yet declared his reelection bid, but all indications are that he will. If Biden declares, it is very unlikely he will face any intraparty opposition. Trump is unlikely to enjoy this advantage, as many political analysts expect that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will likely become formal candidates for the GOP nomination. Two elderly Caucasian men do not reflect the demographics, nor the spirit, of the American people. As a country, we want candidates who are younger, more energetic, and who offer new, fresher ideas. A Biden-Trump rematch would be the antithesis of this. There is a song that says, “You can’t always get what you want … but you get what you need.” This rematch would be neither.

Ken Derow, Swarthmore

Accompanying The Inquirer editorial commending President Joe Biden for his performance was a typical photo of the president pointing his finger in the air. A more appropriate photo would have been of Biden looking at himself in the mirror. The question is, what would he see? Today, Biden is the president of a nation where there are 34 million people who do not have enough food to eat, and about six million are homeless. The United States has more people in prison than any other nation in the world. Because of institutionalized discrimination, Black people are grossly overrepresented in those figures. In my opinion, those statistics represent the very essence of who Joe Biden is. There are excellent reasons why the president’s approval rating is abysmal. Skyrocketing prices have caused the standard of living for most people to deteriorate. However, for the billionaires of the world, inflation has been a literal bonanza. When we look at this information, we can see what the top priority of the Biden administration has been: to get Donald Trump back in the White House. The actions of President Biden represent just one chapter in the encyclopedia of grievances working people have against both the Democratic and Republican Parties. We need a Labor Party that makes human needs the priority over corporate profits. As capitalism continues to fall apart, the idea of a Labor Party will become attractive to growing numbers of people.

Steven Halpern, Philadelphia, hnbpjs@gmail.com

The op-ed pages are often catalysts for discussion about issues that affect local and global communities, but recent opinions about the war in Ukraine are biased in favor of militarism. The echoing of Ukraine’s talking points does little to advance discussion about how to stop the killing. While the case for Ukraine’s independence is undeniable, the only potential solution that is being advanced is one that could lead to the worst European carnage since World War II. No one can be sure of Vladimir Putin’s determination to pursue his military objectives, but it is doubtful that more armaments will thwart his ambitions. Generals will insist the war can be won with massive amounts of weaponry, but this assertion could be wrong, and hundreds of thousands will die. Please encourage more thoughtful discussion about ways to end this war and create lasting peace.

John Krzeminski, Ambler

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