Teachers, good and not so good; political ads; national parks

Lifting one’s spirits

Re “A teacher’s reach,” “Watch and learn,” Opinion, Oct. 17, and “Taking a bird under their wing,” Oct. 17

Because I often feel distressed by news about educational issues and about ecological problems, two recent articles lifted my spirits.

As a retired educator, I thank Emily Hanford for her research into this proven method of helping teachers help each other. Teachers are often targets in the political blame game, so I hope this will be heard and implemented throughout our struggling school system.

Just as we need dedicated and confident teachers to preserve the education of our children, so we also need to make solid efforts to conserve other species to save the environment for future generations.

As a birdwatcher, I am also thankful to Steve Chawkins for offering a positive look at how seemingly insignificant projects such as saving the island scrub jay are worth the effort and expense.

Maureen Newlin

San Bernardino

Here we go again, another story about a charismatic, saintly teacher.

I am a reasonably intelligent, hardworking, personable sixth-grade teacher. This puts me firmly in the worker-bee category.

All my prayer, study and church attendance have not made me a saint, much to the relief of my husband and children.

Would everyone please review your school career for a moment? If you were lucky, you had one or two truly charismatic saints for teachers. Were all the others burned-out dinosaurs who put self-preservation and the teachers union above your education? I bet you learned from them just fine.

How many of you give customers your personal cellphone number? How many of you take stacks of work home each night?

When you see teachers pulling wheeled crates, do you think they are taking home office supplies? (Oh, wait. There are no office supplies.)

I’m not complaining about teaching or even uninvolved parents, disinterested students or overcrowded classrooms. My unhappiness stems from the fact that despite our silent, invisible heroics, we worker-bee teachers are seen as the problem.

Valerie Hartmann

Placentia

I read your two teacher articles with a bit of wistful nostalgia.

Thank you, Andrew Lam, for pointing out that English learners in our schools hunger to learn our most difficult language and that it takes creative, compassionate teachers like Mr. K to hurdle the impediment of a second language that may thwart their success.

As an EL teacher for nearly 40 years, this is truly an arduous but thoroughly joyful task.

Emily Hanford is totally correct in believing that watching — no, studying — exemplary teachers is an effective way to improve teaching skills in weaker teachers.

I too have heard that good teachers are “born not made.” Maybe so, but our problem is that we have yet to delineate just what skills make a teacher “great.”

Another problem is that few principals are trained evaluators. Running a school district is akin to running a business. Can you imagine a large business without human resources people trained in looking for the skills the CEO deems important to the company’s success?

Bob Bruesch

Rosemead

As a teacher, it never ceases to amaze me how many people outside the classroom profess to know what’s best to do inside it.

Now the titans of logic have discovered that we might actually need to leave our little sanctuaries and watch other teachers too? Incredible.

Next thing you know, they’ll tell us that we’ll get in better shape if we exercise instead of sitting on the sofa.

So some would argue that great teachers are born, not made — of course, the same would apply to superintendents, politicians and (gasp) even parents.

Thank goodness; I was worried that arrogance and ignorance were lifestyle choices.

Richard Mandl

Canoga Park

It’s money and politics

Re “Behind the attack ads,” Editorial, Oct. 19

Although I can agree with the key point of the editorial — that key monetary contributors for ads should be identified — I find it incredibly hypocritical for Democrats to criticize Republicans for engaging in the same techniques they used during the 2008 elections in raising millions of dollars from similar organizations.

John C. McKinney

Cerritos

You certainly picked a strange example for your editorial on attack ads. Sen. Barbara Boxer did everything the ad says she did.

I applaud whomever is behind the ad for getting this valuable information to the voting public in time to make a difference.

David R. Gillespie

Bonita

When I talk to my Republican friends about politics, I sometimes say, “If you want to make a black-and-white distinction, Democrats care about people other than themselves, and Republicans only care about their wallets.”

Of course, my Republican friends completely deny this.

So how does Meg Whitman’s latest TV ad bashing Jerry Brown end?

(Voiceover): “Hide your wallet.”

John Ernst

Chatsworth

He made a difference

Re “A dad goes to the rescue,” Oct. 19

Thank you for publishing the story of Rowdy Metzger’s mission to find little Dylan Kurihara, and for its prominent placement.

Metzger’s triumphant feat is a perfect illustration of what can happen when a caring heart meets “get-up-and-go,” and teams up with persistence — serendipity steps in to yield the most extraordinary results.

We all need to be reminded that hope does still exist and that one person can make a difference.

Colleen Caamano

Shadow Hills

Mankind’s history of hate

Re “The enemies we create,” Opinion, Oct. 18

Writer Gregory Rodriguez brings up one of today’s most important topics for a global conversation.

Humans have been creating the “hated other” since the beginning of mankind.

Early in life, we begin to experience powerful feelings of love and hate. To relieve the discomfort of holding the hate, we learn to project it out onto others. We do this first on a small scale with our siblings and schoolyard friends and foes, and it spreads from there.

What is familiar is good, what is strange or different is bad.

What might happen if we could use this knowledge to develop an “objective hatred” in which the hate object is not a human scapegoat but something impersonal like poverty, disease, oppression or natural disasters?

By doing this, we could turn our destructive urges to a creative use.

Linda Gary

Woodland Hills

Going after the wrong guys

Re “Villaraigosa proposes pension reform plan,” Oct. 19

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa states that pension costs are “out of control” and that “the days of unsustainable pensions are over.”May I remind the mayor that police officers and firefighters work to make the city safer?

To me, the real issue affecting Los Angeles and the state of California is the unsustainable act of taking care of and educating illegal immigrants.

Bob Launius

Oxnard

Our ‘best idea’ gets better

Re “21st century parks,” Opinion, Oct. 15

Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan are definitely right about the challenges facing us in our stewardship of the national parks.

But they left something out: Jet noise over the parks.

John Muir’s sacred silence has been replaced by the thunder of commercial flights crisscrossing the continent.

How about some pressure to route the jets around at least the most popular parks, monuments and historic sites? I’d gladly pay a few dollars more for my ticket, and arrive a few minutes later, knowing I haven’t shattered the tranquility.

Ed Spargo

Denver

I was so happy to read Burns and Duncan’s comments, as I just returned from a 4,500-mile road trip to 15 national parks.

In almost every park and on the interstate and state highways that I traveled, I saw signs referring to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.The act funded projects that addressed crucial park needs, improved my visitor experience and implemented sustainable green technologies while stimulating economic activity.

I really don’t think the American public realizes what a great job the stimulus funds have done.

Sandy Rushing

Irvine