CSUN Sundial Editorial

* Re “Latino Group Criticizes CSUN Paper,” Nov. 3.

As a senior at Cal State Northridge, I am familiar with the regulations of Executive Order 665 that require students to pass remedial classes in their first year or be required to leave the university.

I was shocked at the response of the Latino community against the school newspaper, which printed an editorial in support of 665. The editorial was not an article to criticize minority groups, but rather to bring to the attention of students the importance of being able to read, write and do math at a college level.

When people are unsuccessful, it doesn’t mean it is a race issue. We should try to promote all students’ growth in basic college-level skills, and that may mean sending some people to community college first.

ELIZABETH

LEHMAN-SCHLETEWITZ

Granada Hills

* Injecting oneself into the fray over the recent Sundial editorial on Executive Order 665 invites derision, but not doing so perhaps denies to many what seems to be some much needed perspective.

The demonization of the Oct. 27 editorial as a racist diatribe sadly reduces the debate to the level of bickering so endemic to our political system. Overlooked has been what must surely be the cross-cultural consensus on the cesspit that passes for education in the state of California and the nation as a whole.

People first enabled, then allowed, and now demand that public and private institutions like government, school and the media bear the responsibility for their upbringing, wherein blame can be accordingly attributed to “the system” rather than to the individual.

Education has become no more than public-subsidized day care where attendance alone qualifies one for a diploma. Higher education today feeds into the erroneous public notion that simply paying tuition entitles an individual to a college degree.

The crux of my argument is that, in fact, a “village” does not possess the means necessary to raise a child or anyone else. Rather more basic, it takes an individual who cares enough about himself or herself and / or the best interest of the child with whom he or she may be charged to take back the responsibility for an education from a system that has profoundly and unapologetically failed.

If the Sundial, with all its faults, does nothing more than raise awareness of the dire situation faced by students who are, and I use the word advisedly, victims of a system incapable of providing them with the tools necessary for academic success, then it has admirably served its purpose.

MAX ACKER

Senior, Cal State Northridge

Studio City