Don’t blame the poor for low school scores

Since we are blaming the poor and their children for our state’s poor grade scores, let’s just go all the way with it. Now people with “common sense” know that it is not the child’s fault for being poor, but it seems they and their families are getting the blame for the poor grades.

Now, I’m sorry, but that is to me one great big load of bull dung. I have been in this world for 65 years. I grew up about as poor as you can get. I’m pretty sure this is the first time I have heard or seen such bull. I would put the blame exactly where it belongs, and that is the N.C. state school system, from top to bottom. If the legislature can’t find enough money to run the schools and pay the teachers, then I think we should cut the legislators’ pay by at least 15 percent a year. Maybe this would help a lot towards what the schools and teachers need.

Or, as I read in the paper this morning, let them take their salaries from the lottery and we can put their now state-paid salaries and state-paid insurance benefits into the schools and help the poor.

Poor people don’t make dumb children. We could start with Mr. Ben Carson, who’s running for president. Born in Detroit with a mom and no dad, it seems poor people really don’t make dumb kids.

I’m sorry, but we have a child in her last year of medical school; we never made over $17,000 a year.

We don’t make dumb children. Take us back to “reading, writing and arithmetic” — you know, the old stuff. Computers are great, but read the recent letter about Hobby Lobby. Half of the people (applying for a job) could not pass the math test without a computer. Come on.

Ask a teen to sign a check, and they can’t write cursive. What a shame.

— Susan Zimmerman

Cleveland

 Socialistic doctrine 

The letter below is in regard to the Sept. 23 “Common sense” quote from Pope Francis: “These days there is a lot of poverty in the world, and that’s a scandal when we have so many riches and resources to give to everyone. We all have to think about how we can become a little poorer.”

That’s called “communism” and “socialism,” you 20-watt bulb.

Surely there is at least one person at your newspaper who can recognize communistic socialistic doctrine when he/she hears it?

— Mitch L. Canupp

Kannapolis

 

Taking over Alcoa

In 1975, the socialist government of Prime Minister Forbes Burnham of Guyana nationalized the aluminum production facilities of Alcoa located there.  Simply because they wanted it.  There’s not a dime’s worth of difference between that incident and what the N.C. government is trying to do to Alcoa here now.  The U.S. government had no problem with that action, but you can bet Alcoa didn’t agree. Theft is theft.  Nice to know we’ve still got some federal judges, such as Mr. Boyle, with enough sense to recognize this fact.

— Garrett Fulton
Gold Hill