Parents, if you want your children to read well, set the example yourselves | Opinion

Show them

School districts are spending millions of dollars to improve students’ reading skills. This might not be necessary if parents learned to read or read more. Younger children copy the actions of their parents and might think, “If my parents do not read, it must not be important.” Student reading skills will improve when children see their parents reading.

Parents, read a bedtime story to your children three to five times a week. Their reading skills will improve. I say this from a background of 57 years in education with children.

- Harold L. Smith, Arlington

What’s second?

The Fort Worth ISD school trustees congratulated themselves for a 9-0 vote to make literacy their No. 1 priority. (Jan. 26, 4C, “FWISD finally sets goals, plan to pull schools out of the mud. Are they good enough?”) My question is: What was the previous top priority?

- Charles Andrews, Fort Worth

No to Patel

President Donald Trump continues to push unqualified nominees for his incoming Cabinet. Among them is Kash Patel. If the Senate confirms him as head of the FBI, he could be the most dangerous Cabinet member of all.

Trump could have nominated an FBI director who would prioritize protecting Americans. Instead, he nominated a MAGA loyalist. This isn’t just bad leadership. This is oligarchy.

Demand that Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz vote to reject such a dangerous appointment.

- Stephen Luce, Southlake

Let us choose

I am the mother of seven children, including four we fostered and adopted. Without ACE Scholarships, we could not have provided our daughter Tatum the education she needed to thrive. School choice changed our family’s lives and can transform thousands of other Texas families’ futures.

After watching our two oldest children struggle in college because of inadequate preparation in public schools, we knew we needed a different path for Tatum. Thanks to ACE Scholarships, she was able to attend Grace Preparatory Academy. She has flourished, maintaining a 4.35+ GPA, qualifying for the National Merit Scholarship program and participating in numerous extracurricular activities.

I will advocate for expanded school-choice legislation. For families like mine with diverse educational needs, school choice isn’t just about education — it’s about giving every child the opportunity to reach full potential. I encourage others who believe in educational opportunity to join me.

- Yardley Harris, Arlington

Catholic beliefs

Peter H. Schwartz’s Jan. 26 commentary “Will the influence of Catholic ‘natural law’ on Trump officials make America medieval?” in the Star-Telegram’s online Edition was the most virulent anti-Catholic screed I have ever seen in a mainstream publication. Schwartz’s prejudice is blatantly revealed when he refers to “Catholic natural-law fantasies about the proper ordering of sexuality, reproductive rights, gender roles, the natural family and religious freedom.”

Schwartz is correct that many U.S. Catholics identify with Republican Party’s political stances, but he is wrong to assert that Catholic theology on natural law is to blame for extreme right-wing beliefs. He distorts the application of Catholic beliefs in the distinctiveness of male and female genders, human sexuality and humanity’s fundamental tendency to desire pleasure, power, wealth and honor in ways that self-destruct. He neglects to add that Catholic theology adds the commandments of Jesus to love the Lord, your neighbors and your enemies.

Criticize political views, but don’t identify the cause as Catholic theology.

- Paul Park, Fort Worth