Willow Glen Resident
Letters & Opinions
Speak Out
No incentive can
mean no interest
I disagree with Joseph DiSalvo's column, and the whole concept of throwing more money at the school system to compel the slow and/or notso-bright students to rise to the level that is considered acceptable ("No Child Left Behind hasn't exactly hit the bull's-eye," Feb. 9). It simply doesn't work. If a child doesn't want to learn, you can't cram the knowledge into his brain. ("There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.")
I think what is needed is in some way to stimulate the desire to learn. The bright student has an all-consuming curiosity and wants to know how things work, and why they work. He wants to learn, but there has to be an incentive. You load a child up with computers and other gadgets, but that doesn't stimulate the desire to learn.
Too many children nowadays have everything handed to them and do not have to earn the money to buy what they want. Either that or they have nothing and envy those who have everything. These children view getting an education as too much work, and it's easier to take what they want from those who have everything.
So, what I'm saying is that you can't force anyone to learn. You have to create an incentive to learn. The rich man's child doesn't have the incentive simply because he has always been given whatever he wants. Regardless of the affluence of the parents, children need to be taught that they need to work and earn the money to buy what they want.
Ben Johnson
Campbell
History lessons should
be learned from books
Moryt Milo, an editor at Silicon Valley Community Newspapers, believes students should take field trips to see government in action as a way to encourage kids to vote as soon as they are legally able, according to her Feb. 9 opinion piece in The Resident. She wants them to see how policy is created and to learn how one vote can mean the difference between electoral success and failure. She also believes these field trips are necessary because "high school government classes often rely too heavily on textbooks, which are frequently out of date and unengaging."
Actually, field trips should come after kids get a thorough grounding in American history and government that is obtainable even with dated textbooks with the help of qualified and knowledgeable teachers. Students should learn how the founders studied the past to learn how the natural course of history is for freedom to recede and governmental power to grow. They should learn how the new nation floundered under the Articles of Confederation with its weak national government and how the Founding Fathers, while realizing the need for a strong central government, created one whose powers were limited to those specifically enumerated in Article I, Section 8 in the Constitution. The founders' fear of government was summed up by George Washington: "Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. It is a force, like fire; it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."
Students should also learn how the freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution and a free market economy all contributed to making this nation the greatest nation in history.
Jerry Mungai
San Jose
Story on candidate forum wasn't balanced
The article that appeared in the Feb. 9 issue of the Willow Glen Resident ("District 6 race for councilman takes a turn and goes from friendly to testy") regarding the Oliverio-Tedesco forum held at Cory Elementary School was not balanced.
Perhaps Cari Hays should consider that Steve Tedesco was, in fact, pointing out the differences between the two candidates, and was, in fact, questioning some of the accomplishments listed by Pierluigi Oliverio. Perhaps, Tedesco was saying what he knows and believes to be true.
As to the "Compare the Candidates" flier that Tedesco has been distributing during the campaign, the Resident wrote that Oliverio described "Tedesco's flier as inaccurate and dismissed his comments entirely."
If, in fact, the flier has some incorrect statements about Oliverio, why didn't Oliverio correct the mistakes in his mailers that he sent out?
Oliverio also stated when people go negative, "it's because they're desperate." I don't believe Tedesco is negative or desperate, unless telling the truth is negative or desperate.
It's too bad that the Willow Glen Resident has taken such a negative look at Tedesco; perhaps the paper should sit down and talk to him and get his side of the story.
What was left out of the coverage was the moderator specifically asking, "Why should people not vote for your opponent?"
I was under the impression that a candidates forum was an event where people could carefully listen to the questions and then their answers. I agree that all the answers given by the candidates are not always the answers we expect (depending on who a person favors.)
Lorraine Tedesco
Willow Glen
