Cal State budget cuts; recycling centers being closed; the options in Afghanistan

Hard lessons for CSU

Re “New low in higher education,” Column, Nov. 30, and “Cal State cuts felt on many levels,” Nov. 29

Soon I no longer will teach in the philosophy department at Cal State East Bay because of budget cuts.

I am a product of the educational system of the state of California in its heyday, when California was No. 1. Whatever the schools needed, then-Gov. Pat Brown provided. High school diploma, undergraduate degree, doctoral degree (with fellowships and teaching assistantships all the way) and little student debt. That is the way it should be now for all those who want an education.

In those days, California educated its prisoners and had one of the lowest recidivism rates in the nation. We should ask ourselves what happened.

Vida Pavesich
Oakland

Sandy Banks’ column describing students scrambling from class to class begging professors to let them in, and finding desperately needed classes closed, could have been written -- except for the part about breaking down “crying after hours hunched over the computer” -- in the early to mid-1960s.

My sisters and I attended Cal State L.A. during this time while holding down part-time jobs. The students were challenged by ever-increasing fees, insufficient number of classes and overpriced textbooks. Despite those odds, we managed to receive good training in elementary education and went on to become competent and successful educators.

Our struggle to get a higher education happened years ago. It is shameful that our young people are still fighting that battle.

Ramona Saenz
Alhambra

We appreciate The Times’ article highlighting the effects of budget cuts on CSU, but we want to correct the impression that Cal Poly Pomona’s history department “may be on the chopping block” as a result of budget cuts. To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of our demise are greatly exaggerated.

The history department, which we anticipate will be here for a long time, has had a significant effect in many ways. We teach thousands of students each year and have more than 250 undergraduate majors, 80% of whom plan to become history teachers. Our well-trained alumni teach at schools across California. Other alumni go on to law and graduate schools and into business. Current and emeritus faculty in the department have 32 books in print.

The CSU faculty -- including those in our department -- has provided vital educational service for the state’s students, which of course will require continued support in order to be sustained.

Amanda Podany and Zuoyue Wang
Pomona
The writers are Cal Poly Pomona history professors.

Seeing red when going green

Re “Recyclers close, ‘green’ jobs dry up,” Nov. 30

We have a recycling center near our house. We have people on bicycles carrying plastic bags loaded with bottles and cans, homeless drug addicts digging through our trash cans, discarded food wrappings and gnawed chicken bones left everywhere, shopping carts rolled up on our lawns.

Before the recycling center, none of this was happening. Now I find out that we the taxpayers are actually subsidizing someone for the “privilege” of having these recycling centers? That’s rich.

Mike Clark
Torrance

I used to just pitch my bottles into my city recycling bin for pickup, but since our family’s finances have tightened, we now save the bottles and redeem them for the deposits. When we can, that is: The hours of recycling centers are effectively useless for those with regular working hours (10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays). There are some weekend hours, but the hour-long lines produce full-to-the-brim receptacles well before the end of the weekend.

Before these closures, there weren’t enough centers to service the state’s obligation to refund consumers their due. And now I read that money was usurped from this program to balance the budget.

Kristi Golden
Mission Viejo

Afghanistan war plan draws fire

Re “On Afghanistan: The president is muffing a chance to show real leadership,” and “Obama’s strategy is sound, but what about winning?” Opinion, Dec. 3, and “Confusion swirls around new war plan,” Dec. 3

Andrew J. Bacevich’s Op-Ed article contains an accurate and honest analysis of the situation in Afghanistan. And it is no accident, as he is a historian.

If President Obama really wants to do what is right, he would not continue with this war. The consequences of a pullout would lead to instability in the region and put the responsibility on the nations of that region and other Islamic nations in the Mideast. And that would be the best thing that could happen.

Their involvement will not be seen with the resentment that American involvement is. There is no way that in two or even five years we can prepare Afghan security forces to take control. It is time to cut our losses and get out now.

As a Taliban leader said in an interview on BBC: “If more American soldiers are coming, we are ready to kill more of them.”

Ela Jhaveri
Palos Verdes Estates

In 1964, it was said that if I voted for presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, we would have 50,000 troops in Vietnam and be bombing the North.

Last year, I was told that voting for John McCain would triple the number of our troops in Afghanistan. Wow, look what happened.

James Jaster
West Hills

If the president is going to up the ante in Afghanistan, he should at least have the courage to lift some of the burden off those serving in the military and their families, as well as future generations of Americans, by doing two things: reinstate the draft and create a “war” tax.

In this way, all Americans would participate in regard to the ongoing conflict. Or, stated another way: All Americans would suffer in regards to the ongoing folly.

Todd Stubner
Encino

I shared Bacevich’s hope and expectation for a genuine “reset” by our apparently “thoughtful and conscientious” president, and am similarly disappointed.

Over and above the many cogent arguments put forward by Bacevich, there is the simple but monstrous obstacle of a long-standing culture in Central Asia that is not ours to manage, let alone via military means. Change, innovative approaches and resets are enticing concepts that surely do not encompass more of the same in the form of sending our young patriots to a distant geography that has been singled out as terror central, apparently ignoring the real root causes that can explode tomorrow in Somalia or Indonesia or Yemen.

In addition to the mind-boggling cost in human lives, there is now a growing realization that the U.S. is the war-making entity on this globe, a most ominous distinction.

Paul Zalesky
Laguna Beach

Facing reality on Facebook

Re “My friends on Facebook? Pretty ugly,” Opinion, Nov. 29

It has been said by the sages that insight into one’s values and ethical behavior can be revealed under three conditions: When he has consumed too much alcohol, has become angry or has a discussion over money.

Now, in the 21st century, it appears that yet a fourth means has emerged to gain insight into an individual: Simply create a page on Facebook.

One key difference between the pre- and post-20th century approaches is that the former usually occurs during a face-to-face meeting of the minds, whereas the latter can be inadvertently revealed to millions of faceless cybers who populate our planet.

David Pepper
Malibu