Junior High Generation

On the last day of school my son brought home his yearbook full of comments jotted down by his seventh and eighth grade classmates. I read it and discovered (1) that the spelling ability of many hovers around a fourth grade level and (2) that having sex is the top priority of many.

Television, surely, is one of the culprits. After starting our kids off so well with “Sesame Street,” “Mr. Rogers,” et al., it dumps the little wretches into mindless cartoons and then into sitcoms where the main topic is (what else?) sex.

Meanwhile, librarians cope with less money to buy books and present programs and have to shorten library hours, teachers struggle with the same problems and we voters contentedly withhold the needed funds from both.

CHRIS FRANZEN

Santa Ana