LETTERS

Does not serve pupils

Arkansas public schools need to get behind teaching foreign languages. In the future, all qualifications being equal between two applicants for a job where one is fluent in a foreign language and one is not, which one do you really think will get the job?

Most European countries require proficiency in a foreign language in order to graduate from high school. Why do we act like a foreign language should be some sort of “elective” in the same class with band or art?

Equipping our kids for “blue-collar” jobs that have now gone to Third World countries is doing a disservice to the generation coming up. Requiring a useless course in second-year algebra doesn’t make up for ignoring foreign languages.

JOE WHALEN

North Little Rock

Past doesn’t help us

I sympathize with those teaching history today, searching the past for narratives that make sense of the world students will struggle to live in.

Thirty years ago, one had to understand communism and the history of Russia, colonialism and the struggle of the wretched of the earth to be free. In those days, the United States appeared to be a force for good, democratic as opposed to totalitarian, anti-colonial as opposed to imperialist. American institutions seemed a worthy goal to strive for and one could be optimistic about the future.

Today the planet is dying as a consequence of market forces on which the West and the U.S. were built. The U.S. is positioning itself to survive by force of arms in a collapsing ecosystem. The country is being transformed into a national security state.

If we’re to survive long into the future, existing domestic and global structures must be transformed through revolutionary processes that lead God knows where. American institutions are unsustainable, thus meaningful action must be taken contrary to national traditions and values, with no assurance of success.

The outlook for the future is pessimistic-an abyss, and one must stride into it alone, without direction and without much hope.

A tough time for history teachers. What could one possibly teach? There are no lessons in the past that have any relevance to the future we face.

DAVID SIXBEY

Flippin

Can no longer afford it

Woe is me, 80 years plus, have read the paper ever since I could read, first at my grandparents, then when they could afford it, my parents subscribed.

I fussed three or four years ago when the price went up; now my subscription is up to $83 for a year. My car insurance that’s due is up, my house insurance is up this year. What does a person do? Can’t afford it; I haven’t had a raise since I retired.

Old habits die hard, but I won’t have that paper spread in front of me each morning come August 14th. Mike Masterson, I’ll miss you; keep taking that stand for the right.

SUE ROBERTS

Pottsville

The sounds of silence

A 6-year-old girl and 52-year-old woman were shot in Chicago over the weekend. Where are the Reverends Jesse and Al? Where is our president with his helpful comments?

Afraid to face the Chicago thugs?

EDWARD E. SMITH

Oden

Proud of his actions

It’s a simple matter of fairness, and I am proud that Congressman Tim Griffin is calling out President Barack Obama. I am referring to Rep. Griffin’s bill to delay Obamacare’s employer mandate, and the subsequent bill to treat the individual mandate equally.

I think Obama should be thanking Griffin for making legal the president’s choice to ignore a main cog of his Obamacare legislation. Presidents don’t get to pick and choose what part of the law they enforce.

You’d think a “constitutional professor” would know that.

I believe it is simply unfair for Obama to choose businesses and labor unions over hardworking Americans. Ordinary people don’t have armies of lawyers and lobbyists fighting to get us a fair shake. Thankfully, we have people like Tim Griffin fighting for us.

Thanks for not letting Obama’s unfair treatment of taxpayers go unnoticed. The fact that Obama is threatening a veto of his own idea tells me he’s more interested in the politics than doing right by the people.

BETTYE DALEY

Little Rock

Blissful ignorance?

The current political and social environment in the United States of America may be characterized as hypocritical, frustrating and polarized. In such an environment, it is easy for the individual citizen to disregard media reports and continue in blissful ignorance of current events.

However, for those who dare to listen and read about the state of our union, it is difficult not to turn away in disgust and seek refuge in the ignorance that so many other citizens seem to enjoy.

It is painful to know that tolerance seems to be only for those who have earned it by virtue of being black, gay or non-Christian. Apparently, white,straight and/or Christian people may earn a little tolerance by having “white, liberal guilt,” as most recently written about by Charles Clymer of the Huffington Post, or by simply being silent.

It apparently is forbidden for anyone, in the past or present, to use a derogatory term in reference to a minority group or person, unless of course they are a part of that minority. Rather oddly, setting the derogatory terms to music seems to be a more lucrative way for the minority to use such references to their own group.

Lastly, the very notion that President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder would have any comments on justice or what ought to be is, to me, the height of absurdity and hubris. In the wake of scandals, failing health-care reform and the blatant incompetence demonstrated in the handling of the 2012 Benghazi attacks, I find little to recommend the Obama administration.

ASHLEY POPE

Alexander