Yes, public education needs more funding …
It is heartening to see that the state is looking at strategies to bring more of our students up to grade. The article by two former governors cites the statistic that more than ever students will need training beyond high school to compete.
My question is, why are we not providing this type of training inside our public schools?
Having had the privilege of teaching adolescents for more than 26 years, I can tell you that the important skills in reading, math and beyond are most easily learned in application. Very few students learn easily by observation and pencil/paper exercises.
There is real educational value in hands-on application learning where students have to read instructions, measure, plan, build, repair, etc. There is a reason why almost any student can outperform their parents on computers and smartphones. Those are skills they taught themselves by “learning on the job.” From my experience, even the college-bound, “A” student gains a deeper understanding of math and science by applying it.
Music, art, shop, home economics, computers, and civics, are not fluff, but the core subjects that require students to use math, reading and critical thinking.
This kind of training should form the basis of the last six years of their K-12 experience. Those who feel they already can compete will be even more motivated to seek training beyond high school.
Lynn Buschhoff, Denver
Bill Owens and Bill Ritter’s recent commentary supporting Initiative 25 — LEAP — Learning Enrichment and Academic Progress to fund out-of-school instruction will help, but it’s not enough to improve educational outcomes for students or reduce the achievement gap between groups of students.
For too many years, we Coloradans have underfunded public education. Ritter and Owens are right about that. In their most recent Kids Count report, the Annie E Casey Foundation noted that 60% of Colorado 4th graders read below grade level. 60%! It’s even worse for 8th-grade students in math.
Colorado’s per-pupil funding of public education ranks 43rd when adjusted for regional cost differences, according to the most recent data from Education Week. We rank 45th based on the percentage of the state’s wealth spent on education.
In addition, the pandemic has turned homelessness into a huge crisis. Teachers can’t teach, and kids can’t learn if some students are constantly moving in and out of classrooms. Denver Public Schools already had 2,124 homeless students in 2019/20, and it’s now worse. If low-income families had stable housing, we could begin to close the achievement gap between students.
We can do better. Certainly don’t make it worse by supporting two proposed November ballot initiatives (27 and 31), which would reduce taxes for public education even more.
Cyndi Kahn, Denver
Keeping our eyes on the world’s water levels
I want to applaud your entire team for putting together the magnificent article on the lower Arkansas River basin in Sunday’s paper.
We live in times of dynamic change and water will be one of our nation’s (and the world’s) greatest challenges. This summer will prove this point, I fear.
RJ Sangosti assembled a wonderful blend of personal stories and basic facts to illustrate the challenges of rural Colorado. We will be experiencing the fallout of these realities for the next several decades. The arid west will get more arid and traditional lifestyles in rural settings in western North America will fade. We need to be reminded of the challenges beyond our fattened suburbs.
Journalism such as this is why I buy the paper.
Kudos too to Bruce Finley and his work covering the Suncor refinery. Another major issue of change on our doorstep!
Bob Raynolds, Longmont
Thanks to The Post and writer RJ Sangosti for shining a much-needed light on the plight of the residents of Hasty and the many others who face a water crisis. I hope our new federal officials are reading this!
Kevin Sampson, Denver
Ready to hear some truly conservative arguments
Seth Masket’s column correlating 2020 presidential voting with vaccination made an important point about leadership. He observed that the relatively lukewarm response of Republicans to the overall threat of COVID was due to “the messaging people were getting from their party’s leadership.”
While I am not a conservative, I can respect conservative leaders when they present thoughtful arguments in support of their viewpoints. But what is conservative about science denial (i.e. COVID and climate change are hoaxes) and election integrity denial (i.e. Joe Biden’s win could only have been due to fraud)?
Republican leaders should be trying to convince me that they have a better way to manage the economy and other real challenges facing the country, not to believe the Big Lie.
David Wolf, Lakewood
Creative license?
Re: “Baker not denying the customer, but the message,” June 27 commentary
I respectfully disagree with Krista Kafer’s strained argument that the message on a custom cake is speech by the baker instead of by the baker’s customer.
People walking into a bakery have the right to expect that all services and products offered for sale are available to them. However, in the spirit of compromise, I suggest that the baker post a sign reading, “Custom cakes only available to those I agree with.”
Linda Lodenkamper, Wheat Ridge
Re: “Say no to all discrimination,” June 26 letter to the editor
The letter writer meant well when he submitted his letter but missed the point regarding Jack Phillips’ stance.
I agree that all social discrimination is wrong (race is the example that the letter writer uses), but that’s not what Phillips is objecting to. Rosa Parks being refused a seat on a bus or Hispanic diners being refused service at a pre-civil-rights restaurant had nothing to do with forcing them to create something contrary to their beliefs.
Think of it like this: Anti-abortion activists have stood in protest outside of Planned Parenthood clinics and then been forced to move away due to claims of harassment of patients — all legally. However, I’d suggest that ordering a pro-abortion cake from a bakery owned by a right-to-life supporter might be morally wrong.
The fact is that there are plenty of laws that mean well but can be abused through inappropriate discretion. I’d love to discuss that reality publicly with someone in the government legal system.
Hale Hilsabeck, Denver
Raising the bar on stupidity
When Tucker Carlson of Fox News called Gen. Mark Milley “not just a pig, he is stupid,” I was shocked.
Two presidents, a Republican and a Democrat, had the greatest respect and trust in this four-star general who has served in the military for 39 years. Former President Donald Trump appointed Gen. Milley as his chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, his principal military advisor and the nation’s highest-ranking military officer. President Joe Biden asked Gen. Milley to continue to serve in these critical roles.
How is it even remotely possible that this highly decorated Green Beret, who also graduated from Princeton and Columbia universities and the U.S. Naval War College, could be “stupid”?
For Tucker Carlson, with millions of viewers, to use this language and laugh at Milley is irresponsible behavior and endangers the morale of our troops. Milley is the leader of every person who currently serves in the U.S. military!
Would you allow your children, grandchildren or other family members to insult a member of our military by using such vulgar names?
We can disagree on policies or politics, but to sneer and denigrate the highest-ranking patriot in America, whose sole purpose is to protect our troops and all Americans, is truly shameful and unpatriotic!
Toni Hesse, Highlands Ranch
Clean up pay disparity
Re: “Meager rewards for workers, exceptionally rich pay for CEOs,” June 21 business story
Peter Eavis’ article regarding huge pay disparities between CEOs and workers is illustrative of a more endemic problem: the failure of substantive reform in corporate governance in the United States.
The corporate boardroom remains the enclave of a “good old boys” club that is largely self-perpetuating. Despite the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, systemic reform has been anemic at best. The average board member in the ENRON debacle was compensated $400,000 in cash and stock for their nonexistent financial acumen that resulted in a record breach of financial responsibility and malfeasance.
Structural reform would be better served by the adoption of the two-tiered board system utilized in Europe. For example, with Germany’s codetermination provisions, workers are granted seats on the board of directors as stakeholders separate from the seats allocated to equity shareholders. The failure to correct these systemic corporate maladies will only lead to less accountability and greater financial disparities in employee compensation.
Mark Boyko, Parker
Inviting trouble
The Colorado Economic Development Commission is actively working to increase traffic congestion, put greater stress on our water supply, push housing prices ever higher, and worsen the Denver metropolitan area air quality by offering incentives for out-of-state companies, their executives and employees to relocate here. In the
meantime, we are being overrun with in-migrating residents every day anyway. People, the EDC is slapping you in the face every time they offer these incentives. How, you ask? By driving up your frustration on roads and trails, worsening your lungs and making you crazy when your offer on a home for your family is outbid. But some mentalities never change, so we continue to believe and buy the old line that the EDC is governed by, “growth is good.”
Martin Orner, Longmont
I see where an Australian company is looking to move to Denver. The Post just ran an article regarding the awful air quality. Combine that with congested roads and no — or very expensive — housing, you have to wonder when Denver will quit gobbling up jobs and share with the rest of the state. Denver’s success will lead to its downfall.
Mike Hudson, Pueblo
Warn drivers of fire danger
Driving on Interstate 70 from Grand Junction to Glenwood Springs, there are three lighted highway signs advising motorists to buckle up.
These highway signs on I-70 instead need to advise motorists of the extreme fire hazards in our state. Many or most travelers have no idea of the danger in discarding their smoking materials outside their vehicles.
One fire in Glenwood Canyon last year started in the median, and this major interstate highway was closed to traffic for two weeks. The fire spread to involve a large area, and many lives were in danger.
Judith Elzinga, Glenwood Springs
Re: “Artwork ranking women by their looks sets off furor in China,” June 22 news story
I wish the article about the Chinese artist Song Ta, who ranked female students from the prettiest to the ugliest, had included a photo of him so that we could all rank his looks.
J.E.T. Stearns, Henderson
Show the U.S. gun carnage
For far too long, we Americans have been shielded from the realities of war, violence and gun deaths. Every day there are shootings, and we gloss over them in the newspaper and on TV. It’s time to face reality and see the carnage our “right to bear arms” has wrought. We all need to see the “disturbing images” and do something! The sight of a body in a pool of blood might wake us up. There are more guns — in mostly untrained hands — than people in our country. God is not fixing this! We need to “regulate” (as in the Second Amendment) sales and require training to possess firearms. Without action, things will get worse.
Jim Aldridge, Golden
Promote water restrictions
We hear and read almost daily in the local and national news about the extreme, multi-year drought in most Western states, including Colorado. Though the Front Range has had a very wet spring, summer forecasts are for below-normal precipitation and above-normal temperatures in the western U.S.
Wildfire activity is expected to be similar to 2020, which was a record year for wildfires. Water storage in many Colorado reservoirs is near to below normal, but much of that water will be diverted to the Front Range. The extreme lack of precipitation has resulted in record low water storage in reservoirs, particularly Lake Mead and Lake Powell, on the Colorado River.
Given the severe drought on the Western Slope and low 2021 snowmelt runoff in these rivers, we hear little about limiting water use and water rationing in the Front Range. As a hydrologist for almost 50 years in Colorado, I studied many extreme floods and droughts, and I’m very disappointed and flabbergasted with the lack of news on water restrictions. Water restrictions are in order now, particularly along the populous Front Range, where the majority of water is used for lawn watering.
Robert D. Jarrett, Lakewood
Employee gives CPW a bad name
After reading this article, my feelings varied between disappointment and anger, that an employee of Colorado Parks and Wildlife would (evidently) try to influence the selection of Parks and Wildlife Commissioners, and (again, evidently) attempt to thwart the will of Colorado voters to reintroduce wolves.
According to The Post’s article, “some” of the alleged offenses occurred — we are not allowed to know which ones — but the employee in question has been restored to his old job, with few repercussions, while the CPW employee who had the courage to speak out felt he had to resign. This is both unfair and unethical.
While personnel matters can and should be kept confidential, it’s still very disturbing to learn that a CPW employee would work to undercut a public mandate. Certainly this person has a right to his opinions, but he should not use his official position to propagate them.
That said, the CPW staff I have met are able professionals who care passionately about wildlife, who do the best job they can under often difficult circumstances, and who are moving forward with preparations for wolf reintroduction. It’s a shame that one rogue employee will give folks who distrust the agency more ammunition to doubt its competence and objectivity.
Pauline P. Reetz, Denver
Border problem far-reaching
The letter writer claims that Vice President Kamala Harris can correct President Joe Biden’s border crisis at the source: the countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. He could not be farther from the truth. I am from Puerto Rico and my wife from Peru. We have family in the Caribbean, Spain, Peru and many old friends from Venezuela, Cuba and Mexico. Our consensus is very different!
The problem at the border is not only from the three countries, but from Venezuela, Cuba and even African countries.
Without deterrence the emigrants will come to the border and the coyotes will make millions of dollars in human trafficking. Gutemalan President Alejandro Giammattei said of the messages from Biden and Harris: “They were compassionate messages that were understood by people in our country, especially the coyotes, to tell families, ‘We’ll take the children. And children can go, and once children are there, they will call their parents’.”
To be able to fix the problem at the source would take decades to reform governments from corruption, incarcerate gangs via a strong judicial system, and make it safe to live in the country so as to encourage foreign investment. In other words, nation building!
José M. López, Centennial
Alien visitors improbable
I’ve been amused at the recent publicity about UFOs. Here is just a brief science lesson. One light-year is approximately 6 trillion miles. One of our nearest stellar neighbors, Proxima Centauri, is 4.2465 light-years away — or approximately 25 trillion miles from Earth.
The propulsion velocity required to accomplish such distances is beyond any technology known to us. Ergo whatever has been seen, filmed, or otherwise reported, it is extremely unlikely to be visitors from other worlds. That’s the science. And why would an alien race travel such unimaginable distance only to remain unannounced and incognito?
Given the age of the universe, perhaps some civilization has developed physics far beyond ours and can travel at speeds well beyond what we can achieve; but to remain anonymous once here seems extremely unlikely.
Bill Starks, Arvada
Listen to those opposing views
Re: “Want to change minds? Listen,” June 28 commentary
What’s the saying we have two ears and one mouth for a reason?
The columnist ably points out the importance of listening.
And it needs to work both ways. To mirror Nicholas Kristof’s question, what can one say to a friend, associate, or relative who thinks any registered Republican is a racist, QAnon believing, planet-destroying sexist who fully believes former President Donald Trump?
We should all take the time to get the thinking and logic of those who don’t experience the world the way we do. A different view isn’t bad, stupid or wrong; it is just a reflection of how one’s life has unfolded.
Is anyone listening?
Stan Moore, Lakewood
Generalizations prevent meaningful dialogue
Re: “America is getting meaner,” June 26 commentary
I certainly wouldn’t argue against the notion that America is getting meaner. However, it seems to me that the intent of Timothy Egan’s rambling commentary is more to trash Donald Trump, Rush Limbaugh and Republicans in general, as well as promote his upcoming book, than to identify and discuss the actual causes of this meanness.
Does Egan really believe that “up to one-fourth of Republicans believe the country is under the control of Satan-worshipping pedophiles?” Does Egan really believe that “ an entire political party is shouting the Big Lie of election fraud, and will punish those who insist on the truth?”
While I am a moderate unaffiliated voter, I do have a number of family members and friends that are Republicans and I can honestly say that I doubt any of them believe either of those radical ideas and have no intention of punishing those of a contrary opinion.
Egan should understand that fake news is not just made up stories (lies) but includes exaggerations and distortions as well.
I can’t make much sense of Egan’s wind and buffalo grass analogy, but do we really need another book about the KKK activities 100 years ago … especially in this racially charged environment promoted by the liberal media and liberals in general?
I will assume his reference to “people without a heart, unable to see half their countrymen and countrywomen as anything but the enemy” refers to both Democrats and Republicans.
Jim Malec, Roxborough Park
Gun violence victims keep adding up
Re: “Man found with gunshot wound in Aurora McDonald’s parking lot dies,” June 30 online story
Yet another victim of gun violence. We are all victims of gun violence, living in fear and division. When will we ever learn, affirm that community safety is as important as our individuality, and regulate guns as we do autos?
Stephan Papa, Denver
No justice for victims of the rich and powerful in America
Re: “Sex conviction overturned; Cosby freed from prison,” July 1 news story
There could be no better testimony to the fact that America has a separate justice system for those with money and those without than Bill Cosby’s release from prison.
Martin Petters, Centennial
U.S. history in schools is honest, and at times disturbing
Re: “The effects of teaching critical race theory,” June 27 letter to the editor
Racial discrimination may be illegal, but that doesn’t mean systemic racism doesn’t exist. Voter suppression is systemic racism, and so is refusing to teach the truth about our country’s past.
As a former school teacher, saying that younger people probably have no idea that systemic racism occurred in the past, is dubious, at best.
When I taught U.S. history, I was allowed to show movies of African-Americans
getting attacked by dogs and having fire hoses turned on them during the civil
rights protests of the 1960s. These movies were powerful and disturbing, but they also were very valuable, for my students got to see exactly what was happening in the South during a very turbulent time in our history.
Saying that there is nothing a minority individual cannot achieve with self-initiative and good mentoring by teachers and parents is also very simplistic, given the fact that many minority students are still being taught in schools that are highly segregated and unequal, and by the further reality that many minority students simply cannot afford to go to college.
Robert H. Moulton III, Commerce City
Fretting over the filibuster
Re: Filibuster cartoon printed on June 29
Democratic senators used the filibuster more to block nominees and legislation under former President Donald Trump than has ever happened before.
I don’t remember hearing any complaints or seeing any cartoons published in The Denver Post decrying the practice. Now that it has been invoked against President Joe Biden, it seems to have turned into a despicable process all of a sudden.
If it is so bad for our country, where were the complainers hiding over the past four years? If it is bad for our country, then it is bad, regardless of the president’s political affiliation.
Does anyone but me see the hypocrisy?
By the way, I am not a Trump supporter.
Wayne Patton, Salida
Federal law would incentivize non-opioid pain relief treatments
In Colorado and nationwide, the COVID-19 pandemic has understandably dominated headlines. Yet another public health crisis, one that takes about 190 American lives every day, has only worsened in the past year. In the 12 months ending in November 2020, about 1,400 Coloradans died from a drug overdose according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, a substantial increase from the previous year.
Three-quarters of these deaths are attributed to opioids.
The opioid epidemic has had a devastating impact on Colorado communities. As the interim CEO of Denver-based Young People in Recovery, I work with leaders across the country to address this crisis every day. As someone whose family has been directly affected by substance use disorder, I’ve felt this issue on a personal level as well.
One essential step in reducing the human toll of the opioid epidemic is stopping addiction before it begins. Luckily, legislation recently reintroduced in Congress would do just that.
The Non-Opioids Prevent Addiction in the Nation (“NOPAIN”) Act would increase access to safe, innovative non-opioid pain management options by updating reimbursement protocols to incentivize the use of these types of treatments.
With this legislation, health professionals will be better equipped to tailor treatment options to each patient’s individual needs, which could prevent millions of Americans from going on to long-term opioid use after a surgery.
I urge senators John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet and Rep. Diana DeGette to support this critical legislation that will give health professionals access to more tools to manage their patients’ pain.
That’s an approach we should all get behind.
Ann Herbst, Denver
Editor’s note: Herbst is interim CEO of Young People in Recovery.
We see gun violence and suicides far too often in Colorado
The Colorado community has been jolted by violent gun acts including the Columbine High School, Aurora movie theatre, and the Boulder grocery store shootings. In addition to these publicized traumatic events, as pediatricians, we diagnose and treat countless injuries involving gun violence in our day-to-day work.
With Children’s Hospital Colorado declaring a state of emergency for pediatric mental health on May 26, it is imperative that we focus on firearm regulation to protect the safety of our children and community.
Our emergency rooms and hospitals are filled with children and adolescents reporting suicidal ideation or attempts to die by suicide. Studies show that more lethal means, such as firearm use, lead to more completed deaths by suicide than other methods, such as ingestion.
We want to extend a sincere thank you to Colorado legislators who are taking these experiences seriously.
The creation of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment is one step towards protecting the health of children and families.
We are particularly impressed by the commitment to reducing gun violence without contributing to mass incarceration, working to improve rather than exacerbate inequities within our community. Thank you.
Kathryn Kalata and Molly Crenshaw, Denver
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