Speak Out 1/20/05

Good solution

JUST WANT to say great job to the Jackson Police Department for taking care of the traffic situation at the junior high school and West Lane School. The no-parking signs are a great idea. I hope they work and don't get torn down. It is much easier to manipulate through those streets now. I hope this remains a permanent solution. It seems to be working well.

Spending priorities

I NOTICED an ad in the paper for substitute teachers, janitors. cooks-dishwashers and nurses. The lowest pay was for teachers. When the janitor makes more than the teacher, what does that say about priorities? The teachers' pay was less than half of the sub for the nurse. Maybe parents should check their school's priority.

Drug safety

OUR PHARMACEUTICAL companies keep telling us not to buy drugs from Canada or Mexico because they are not safe. Lately I've seen in the news where several American-made drugs have been recalled because they can be dangerous or even deadly. I have not seen one Canadian or Mexican drug recalled. Which ones are really unsafe?

Balancing relief

I DON'T think people are necessarily selfish for questioning how much money to send for the tsunami victims, because we have our own problems here. California was hit hard, and there may very well be people in need in our own country. For those who believe in the Bible, if disasters are supposed to continue to happen in the last days, how much bailing out can the United States do before we go broke? There's got to be a balance? How much of the Scriptures do you really believe?

Let's be rude

IN RESPONSE to the person who said Cape Girardeau is not growing because the people are rude: In all fairness and with all due respect, if that's what it takes to keep out a bunch of subdivisions, apartment complexes, asphalt parking lots, shopping centers that deteriorate the beauty of Cape Girardeau, then let's keep being rude, by all means. If that will keep the trees and nature and what few farms we have left and the beauty of the beautiful land and the ponds, then let's be rude.

No fancy technology

SO THE PowerPoint presentations are entertaining. I thought our purpose was to educate the kids. At the school district where I teach, I don't have any of the advanced classes. At the end of every semester we give a benchmark exam to all of our students. All of our teachers give the same exam. My students every semester outscore the students in other classes, including students in advanced classes. I don't use PowerPoint. I don't use a data projector. When we look at the scores on the MAP tests that they take, my students score higher in my subject area than those taught by teachers who have used all the fancy, new electronics and technology. Whose students are learning?