As a Haverford College alumnus, I appreciate your recent editorial on John R. Coleman (“The Common Touch,” Sept. 13) who was indeed, as you wrote, “a blue-collar college president.” Coleman, whom my wife and I knew and who enjoyed being called “Jack,” brought together an education that included a Ph.D. in labor economics from the University of Chicago with a lifelong determination to understand and honor America’s working class.
Your editorial noted that during his sabbaticals Jack Coleman took jobs washing dishes, hauling garbage, sweeping streets, even sleeping outside among the homeless. This was not done lightly or for publicity, but to help him reconnect and relearn what it means to be a kind and compassionate human being. Jack Coleman left us with his unique example.
We might try to emulate this challenge each day by thanking those who work, frequently unseen, to clean up our mess, sweep our dirt, haul away our dirty dishes or clothing, drive our public vehicles, neaten and tidy up and smooth our lives. Who knows? Given the dark shadows that divide us during this election year, we might even discover and encounter those who are seldom heard and often unseen.
Jack Shepherd Norwich
I am delighted to be in the “Basket of Deplorables” with my husband. He wondered if he should return his college diploma since only uneducated white people are supporting Mr. Trump.
What an insult for at least 50 percent of our population. The “elites,” who act for a living to entertain the deplorables, are true to form. Give us your money at the box office, and then we’ll insult you.
We deplorables should boycott some of these people. Remember to vote in November.
Janet C. Connolly Meriden
Previously I endorsed anyone but Hillary Clinton for president, and still do. But as suggested by other Forum writers, Jill Stein is an excellent candidate. I feel she would restore a degree of respectability to that office not seen recently. America sorely needs her intellect and progressive ideas. Her positions on health care, education, military expenditures and war are exemplary, and no other candidate espouses them. She is far less likely to get America in another senseless war than the CIA’s handmaiden, Hillary Clinton.
She also appears to be healthier. Do we want to chance electing a president who is physically and mentally dysfunctional? There are, of course, many other reasons to disqualify Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. Jill Stein’s credentials and demeanor are impeccable; she is a clear choice.
Dan Leggett Hanover
Republicans have failed us. For years, Republicans in Congress have been a disaster for America. Time after time they have put their party’s interest ahead of the needs of the nation.
A few examples: Republicans have obsessively hated the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), voting dozens of times to restrict or end it. This is especially strange since the ACA was based on a Massachusetts program enacted by then Republican Gov. Mitt Romney. Their alternative program is simple: Don’t get sick! Republicans have fought hard to deny women the right to make their own choices about pregnancy. Worst of all has been their malicious campaign against Planned Parenthood, a fine organization providing quality reproductive health care for millions of Americans, especially low-income women.
In foreign affairs, Senate Republicans tried repeatedly to sabotage the multinational negotiations aimed at preventing Iran from making nuclear weapons. The agreement between Iran and six major nations has been an important victory for diplomacy instead of war, but Senate Republicans have done all they could to make it fail. It’s hard to see any motive except denying President Obama an important success.
This year Republicans in the Senate, for purely partisan reasons, have flatly refused to do their constitutional duty to provide advice and consent regarding President Obama’s nominee to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court. Even after the horrendous recent massacre in Orlando, Republicans have blocked every move, however moderate, to limit future gun violence. Unfortunately, there are many more cases where the Republicans in Congress have put party tactics ahead of the national interest.
New Hampshire’s Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte has taken full part in this campaign of obstruction. Instead of working for better policies, she has meekly followed Sen. Mitch McConnell’s Republican party line, no matter how negative it has been. She has not put the American people first, and she should not be re-elected to serve in the Senate.
John Lamperti Hanover
Recently a New York Times article noted that there are 100,000 public schools in the United States, with 50 million students and 3.4 million teachers.
I wonder why there is not an uproar about what is being taught in all those taxpayer-supported institutions. Why teach math, algebra, geometry and calculus? After the invention of calculators, all except basic math should have ended in classrooms. Why teach physics, chemistry and biology? I only remember one thing about being forced to study them. We dissected frogs in my 1955 biology class; every time I saw a frog roadkill I’d think back to that boring class. Kindergarten wasn’t invented when I was a kid — another waste of money today.
The academics brainwash us into thinking they know it all and school boards and parents are too intimidated to challenge them. Why can’t education be exciting and useful?
The following need to be taught: basic first aid, art appreciation, music participation, physical fitness, Mandarin Chinese, important American history, basic sign language, the consequences of alcohol and drug abuse, basic food preparation, obesity, domestic abuse, homelessness, bullying, cursive writing, basic personal accounting, anger management. They should also study obsessive compulsiveness and set up mentor programs with intellectually gifted older students helping younger kids who are struggling.
Roger Small Claremont