Al Gore’s Visit

Re “Students Tune Out Gore in His L.A. Visit,” Oct. 22:

The parents, staff and students have to answer to us taxpayers: When do we allow disrespect to substitute for indifference? When do we accept disrespect as a form of free speech? Regardless of party affiliation, I would have been honored to have our vice president come to my school. When those students say they do not understand what the executive branch of government stands for, I wonder if the 8th-grade U.S. Constitution test should not be reinstated.

I am ashamed that my tax dollars help contribute to the insolence of Locke High School.

ANNE P. ODELL

Glendale

* Re Gore’s visit: A few years ago I attended a visit by another distinguished American, to a Compton junior high school being named in his honor. I was amazed, first, how well-behaved these youngsters were throughout a long and boring program preceding the introduction of the honoree. I was amazed, second, how attentively and respectfully the youngsters listened to retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr., the World War II commander of the pioneering black 332nd Fighter Group (the famed Tuskegee Airmen). Davis spoke from the heart directly to the young people, as many of them Latino American as African American, about how important it is to obtain a good education, and gave concrete suggestions as to how to prepare to be successful.

Actually, there are very few adults who willingly would listen to either the Clinton/Gore or the Dole/Kemp team lamenting the lack of capital in the inner city, praising enterprise zones and noting that there has been a drop in unemployment. Perhaps the lesson for Gore’s advance team to learn is: Talk about a subject of real import, connect with a young audience and do so with enthusiasm.

DAVID K. CARLISLE