Letters to the Editor: Even this liberal has to agree with President Trump on one education-based opposition

To the editor: These rules easing penalties for “willful defiance” depend on the assumption that students of color are innately less able to control themselves because of their minority status (“State discipline law keeps Black, Latino kids in class. Trump says it’s illegal,” May 1). This assumption is grossly racist on its face! It is a paternalistic insult to hold minorities to a lesser standard of public behavior than the rest of society. Would it be acceptable for more serious violations like felonies?

As a die-hard left-winger, I insist that minorities are no less inherently capable of self-control than anyone else, and should be held to the same societal standards as everyone else — no stricter and no more lenient.

Harvey S. Frey, Santa Monica

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To the editor: California largely ended suspension rules that some say disproportionally affected Black and Latino students. Trump says it’s illegal. I agree with Trump. When one or two unruly students of any ethnic group continually disrupt the classroom and neither the principal nor the teacher can do anything about it, then chaos ensues.

My question is this: If public education is utilitarian, then why allow a few knuckleheads to supersede the right of the majority of students to get a good education?

Mark Walker, Yorba Linda