ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 22, 1997 TAG: 9704220035
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: LETTERS
The arts are basic to education
REGARDING your April 2 news article, ``Teachers want state to restudy requirements'':
After more than 30 years as a teacher and administrator in Roanoke County schools, I am appalled at the efforts of Gov. George Allen and his appointed state superintendent of public instruction to determine what is ``basic'' to education in Virginia.
They show a lack of understanding necessary to academic and professional success in an increasingly complex and global community, and are insensitive to the needs, interests and abilities of individual students. For Allen, education is a political concern rather than a commitment to Virginia's youth.
Working daily with young people with academic and personal problems, I saw the power of the fine arts to touch, keep students in school and direct many to success - not just in the arts but in all academic areas. The arts challenge students to analyze, interpret and make educated decisions. Students are taught to think creatively, not just repeat memorized content, parroting a predetermined set of ``standards.'' Is that ability to think independently what frightens Allen and his cohorts?
The fine arts are basics in education rather than pawns of a political agenda.
RICHARD TISINGER
ROANOKE
Tuition increase is not reasonable
WE ARE residents of Roanoke city and have a total of four children who attend Roanoke County schools. We object to the tuition increase for nonresident students already in the county's school system (March 29 news article, ``Raising fees could cost schools''). The amount of tuition, which supplements county taxes, should have been projected from the beginning of the admissions of nonresident students.
Until the 1996 school year, tuition was $100. It was raised to $500 for new students, but those already attending continued to pay $100. It would be virtually impossible for us to pay the estimated $2,500 increase for tuition. It's difficult for us to accept that the School Board has disregarded our children's academic, emotional and social well-being.
We realize that some tax dollars are used to educate nonresident students, but a portion of that money is allotted for transportation, which is not being used by our children. As city taxpayers, we are providing resources to educate county students who attend the city's magnet schools - tuition-free. All taxpayers pay for services that do not directly benefit them but increase the overall quality of the community.
VICKIE REED
SHANNON MARTIN
ROANOKE
Health-care reform is still needed
I RECEIVED a response recently to a letter I sent Hillary Rodham Clinton asking her not to drop health care as a national issue. She pointed out that the recently passed Kennedy-Kassenbaum bill allows Americans to keep their health insurance if they change jobs. And it's now required that new mothers stay 48 hours in the hospital for most normal deliveries. This is for the health of the mother and baby.
Many of us do not fit into these categories and don't qualify for Medicaid or Medicare programs. Many are temporary workers, minimum-wage earners or workers who do not work 40 hours a week, so our employers do not offer any health-care options. How many young people just out of high school and working at a fast-food restaurant can afford eye care or regular checkups?
I understand these circumstances myself, having had to save for five months for a dental bridge. While my husband is a teacher, his health plan primarily covers hospitalization, not preventive care, eye care or dental checkups for us or our three sons. My part-time job provides no health plan; a mammogram for me is a luxury.
What people like me need is a special, low-wage-earner plan. Perhaps a national sales tax would be in order, not only to help me but help shore up the ailing Medicare fund.
Mrs. Clinton should get back to the drawing board and address affordable health care again.
DENISE J. MATHEWS
CASTLEWOOD
Jackson, doubtless, loved horses, too
THERE IS no redeeming value in what Robert S. McCormick Jr. (March 29 letter to the editor, ``Jackson showed his love for blacks'') has to say.
I'm sure Robert E. Lee, George Washington and Stonewall Jackson had horses, dogs, cats and cattle they loved. They also loved their homes, farms and money. These were their possessions, as were their slaves. How could you not love people you owned, who were subject to your will (good or bad ), over whom you had the power of life and death? These people didn't ride up to the owners' homes and say: "Master, I'm here to be your slave.''
Does the Lexington Presbyterian Church have any books on how whites raided the African coasts, dragging off captives and buying the captives of warring tribes to be sold like cattle?
Jackson and others also had the run of the slave quarters and the pick of women and young girls there. These women served as birth-control devices for the wives of slave owners, and also gave the owner flesh of his flesh to sell off and enslave.
So Jackson started a Sunday school for black children, which had a scattering of older blacks. Maybe most of the older blacks were required to work the fields and do other chores while Jackson molded the young minds. Jackson (and any other pretender) should have been concerned about his own eternal destination for being a part of this abomination.
Speaking for myself, I respect no man who would enslave another.
CURTIS STEPHENS
BEDFORD
Parents must be the role model
IN RESPONSE to James Ratcliffe's March 28 letter to the editor, ```Miss Rosa' was no role model'':
Did anyone suggest he was? I am sick and tired of holier-than-thou people who seem to think anyone they disagree with is a role model for their children.
``Miss Rosa'' was ridiculed by people who never knew him and think a disability is free game for all. Evidently, he was loved by many who knew him.
The March 14 news article (```Miss Rosa' was loved, will be missed'') was about the life of a special person who touched many hearts. Whether Ratcliffe likes it or not, he was part of our community and should be respected as a human being. I seriously doubt that parts of Miss Rosa's life were what he wanted. But life isn't always like we wish it to be.
Ratcliffe needs to be his children's role model. If parents don't want their children exposed to diversity in a community, then it's up to the parents to raise their children the way they choose.
TIM PHILLIPS
ROANOKE
Garish star may have to go
THE MANY letters to the editor concerning the development of Mill Mountain have, for the most part, been well-thought-out by those who have taken time to consider the issue. Those conservatives who want not a leaf to be disturbed have generally had the soundest arguments.
If we want the mountain undisturbed and in its original pristine form, why not eliminate that big, stupid, garish star? Or does Roanoke need a little Hollywood pretentiousness?
TOM H. SCOTT
GALAX
LENGTH: Long : 139 linesby CNB