Reader Responds -- Ray Shelton

I was pleased to see the Glendale School Board’s “Reaffirmation for a

Better World” on your opinion page. It is sorely needed and deeply

appreciated. However, there are two facts that distress me.

First, the notion of “tolerance” sends the wrong message. We tolerate

that which is odious, unpleasant or objectionable. For example, don’t you

agree that it is bizarre that someone might say, “I tolerate gay

Americans, or African Americans, or Korean Americans, or Christian

Americans, or Armenian Americans”?

A much better phrase the school board might use is “respect for the

individual rights of all Americans to be free from harassment and

discrimination.” Or even “appreciation of peaceful individual and

cultural differences.”

Second, the school board (unintentionally, I’m sure) is in violation

of the spirit of their own “Reaffirmation for a Better World.” In their

contract with the local teachers’ union the nondiscrimination article

does not cover all of the groups mentioned; it does not protect all

employees from discrimination. Such an oversight is easily remedied, of

course.

RAY SHELTON

Glendale