Ensuring Gifted Pupils Succeed

Re: “Making Sure Gifted Pupils Succeed,” Andrew Wolf, Opinion, March 25, 2005. Thank you for this honest and thought-provoking article. It is very sad that, as a nation, we do not understand these children have special needs.

We undermine our democracy by not providing an education that meets the needs of these special learners, and we undermine our position in the global race for scientific and humanistic discoveries. By not educating these children, we actually jeopardize the health and benefits every other child will receive. It is truly a cut your own (and your child’s) nose to spite your own face.

This is not about offering one child more than the other, since the truth is most people’s children will not, and cannot solve cancer (etc.), or even do the required math and writing to accomplish it. It is merely offering something different to those who need it. It is looking out for your own child’s well-being when we make sure the most gifted children have their needs met.

At a minimum, the most gifted could become high wage earners and support the democracy of the low-wage earners, and offset for their existence in terms of Medicare, Social Security, and possibly improving on scientific methods that will add quality to their life.

LEILA JEAN LEVI
Venice, Calif.

I fear Andrew Wolf’s frequent and cogent arguments for education reform is just a voice crying in the wilderness.

It is abundantly apparent that the mediocrity and inanity of public education can never change until such basics as discipline, correct grammar, and knowledge of history and world cultures are restored to their proper and former importance.

Too many “bright children” are trapped in the ruins of New York’s school system, on which the city has squandered billions. Klein, Farina, R enzulli, Bloomberg & Co., and the death clutch of a corrupt teachers union, are the powers to be defeated and ousted.

Don’t expect any help from the degenerate television and film industries, either. All of the above are part of the witches’ brew that has resulted in the education tragedy. I speak from over a half-century’s experience in the classroom. Le plus ca change, le plus c’est la meme chose.

JEROME L. STARR
Professor emeritus
School of Visual Arts
Manhattan

Sharon’s Budget Showdown

Re: “Cablevision, Jets Submit Final Bids,” Julie Satow, Page 1, March 22, 2005. Thank you, Cablevision. But you upped the ante $620 million, and that buys a lot of track. Let’s hope the closed backroom billion-dollar deals among billionaires are over.

THOMAS LYNCH
Belle Harbor, N.Y.

Bravo to MSG for showing that it truly cares about this city by including a school, a library, parks, and affordable housing in its plan for the West Side. The Jets’ bid pales in comparison. Instead of building infrastructure the West Side needs, they want to build a stadium no one wants. A stadium would contribute to increased policing and sanitation as well as congestion, pollution, and noise far more than a plan that involves housing.

SHEREE SANO
Manhattan

‘Right of Resistance?’

Forget about the Geneva Conventions. The reason Rashid Khalidi is wrong is that the Israeli troops would not be “occupying” the West Bank Gaza if the Palestinian terrorists had and would stop murdering Israeli civilians. The New York Sun’s editorial argument would have made the Resistance fighters of World War II illegal [“Right of Resistance?” March 14, 2005].

DAVID M. O’NEILL
Manhattan

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