Ball fields don’t need netting I don’t...

Ball fields don’t need netting

I don’t think that the schools will need protective netting around

the baseball fields. There is a very small chance that a ball could

hit a person. Also, the price is way too high. $700,000 is far too

much money to be used on something we don’t need. It would be much

wiser to use the money for new books and other much needed classroom

supplies.

JEREMY HARRIS

Burbank

Schools should use resources they have

The letter from Leslie Strunk (“Foreign language should count,”

Mailbag July 23) had a phrase that struck me: “Cookie-cutter

educations,” which tends to describe what we are trying to foist upon

our kids, trying to cram a lifetime of lessons into four mere years

of high school, as I complained in my own letter (“Foreign language a

skill for life,” Mailbag, July 23).

It does beg another question about all these school requirements:

Why does every high school student have to study science and math as

if they were all going to march off to be computer geeks or nuclear

scientists? Why does every student have to have four years of English

as if they would all troop off to write the next great American

novel? Why not allow students to substitute marching band, theater or

dance for their physical education requirement? These latter are as

physically demanding as any generic gym class will be.

All these measures would free up much more time to take the

practical arts courses everybody says the kids need, and they surely

do. The schools, as with individuals, will never have enough money to

do all the things they want to do. Meantime, they need to get more

creative and flexible on using the resources they do have.

MAUDE HAM

Burbank

Foreign language should count as arts

I am strongly in favor of the proposal to allow college prep

students to substitute two years of a foreign language for the

practical arts requirement. Neither a fine arts credit nor a

practical arts credit is required for admission to the UC or Cal

State schools. Nor is either even a state mandated requirement for

high school graduation.

Forcing our college prep students to substitute a class such as

cooking or keyboarding for another elective that will allow them to

be more competitive for college admissions is, in effect,

handicapping them in their efforts to excel. Instead of putting

obstacles in the path of our academically high-achieving students, I

feel we should be doing all we can to support and encourage them in

their applications to our nation’s top universities.

These students already must take four additional courses

(including two foreign language credits) above the high school

requirements just to meet the minimum UC requirements for freshman

admissions (and an additional three credits are recommended in math,

science, and a foreign language). I urge Burbank schools to strive

for a higher level of excellence by recognizing and supporting the

efforts of our college prep students as they compete for slots in the

country’s top universities.

MARILYN SNOOK

Burbank