Politicizing the issue

Re: “Closing the schools hurt the students,” the Gazette, Aug. 31, setting aside Tim Carney’s obvious dislike for public schools in general and teachers unions in particular, what survey was source of his quote from the New York Times, “local governments and school boards harmed millions of schoolchildren…by keeping schools closed through much of the 2021-2021 school year?”

Carney never says, but he sure is anxious to further quote the editorial from the Times; “the resulting learning setbacks range from grave for all groups of students to catastrophic for poor children.”

What is meant exactly by “grave” and “catastrophic?” What about the notion, long held to be true, of how resilient children are, in the face of all kinds of terrible conditions and abuse? And what of the tens of thousands of Americans, or more, over the last century and longer, who missed so many levels of school; ranging from not finishing high school to not completing even the elementary level of learning?

All Carney is doing is politicizing this issue; to the extent that this conservative willingly quotes the New York Times.

Ken Valero

Littleton

This is a great reminder

Thank you so for the very well written editorial last week titled, “Thank our troops and blame their commander in chief.”

This is a great reminder of our courageous military personnel and the dysfunctional leadership that we now have in Washington.

Eileen Lanners

Denver