Letters to the editor
Thursday, July 28th, 2005
By Chris Fitzsimon
Encourage diversity
EDITOR: I urge the school board to examine its priorities. Graduation and dropout rates of minority youth have been called an educational and civil rights crisis.
According to researchers, failure to graduate triples one’s chances of going to jail. …
Spending on jails and prisons in every Southern state has far outstripped education spending in the past 20 years.
To ensure adequate public input, the dialogue on the hot-button issue of redistricting must begin now.
I would like to see the school board set a positive example by educating the public on the practical benefits of diversity, answering the “What’s in it for me?” question before it is asked.
Studies show that lower graduation rates tend to occur in school districts with higher levels of racial segregation.
A long-term means of “natural” desegregation would be the construction of another magnet elementary and middle school in the downtown area, which, by design, pull a diverse group of children into inner-city schools.
Quick action is needed … soon all large tracts of downtown land will be gone. …
There are no “quick fixes” or “uniform solutions” to the problems facing our schools.
Let’s not waste too much time on a distracting issue like school uniforms.
Kim McCahan Batson
Wilmington
The writer is vice chair of the Education Committee of the New Hanover County NAACP.
Try a lottery
EDITOR: A surprising quote in the July 16 Star-News editorial (“North Carolina has yet to come up with a workable formula to afford all students a good basic education”) has an obvious ,“no-brainer” solution: a state lottery.
The schools in this state, for the most part, are in dire need of repair, both physically and academically.
Our educational ranking … in the nation could be greatly raised with funds directed toward making all aspects of our schools better, from attractive teacher salaries, to buildings that are in good repair.
The argument that poor people will spend all their money on lottery tickets is ridiculous, as nobody is forced to buy tickets.
… If our officials need some help on how to allocate the funds, let them visit one of the many states that have made lotteries a resounding success.
This great state needs to look at the “big picture,” get its priorities in place and invest in a plan to benefit our children, our future.
Joy Plowman
Wilmington
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