Fort Worth schools need to face the truth: Some kids will never read at grade level | Opinion
Realistic goal
Isn’t the Fort Worth school district setting itself up for failure with a goal that all students read at grade level? (Jan. 24, 1A, “Fort Worth ISD school board aims to boost reading scores”)
Public schools are required to admit children regardless of disability. Most special education students are included in the reading goal, as are students whose IQ is barely above qualifying for special education. Those students may be doing well to read at a third-grade level as adults. It seems cruel to expect them to do something they’re inherently incapable of doing. It seems counterproductive to set a goal that the district will fail to reach if intellectually challenged children can’t do what’s impossible for them.
Wouldn’t 90% be a more reasonable goal? It won’t be reached, anyway — the district has failed multiple times before. These plans are just words, but wouldn’t an achievable goal be better purely on principle?
- George Michael Sherry, Fort Worth
Phone addicts
The fault for students’ poor reading skills does not fall on our school systems and teachers. It falls on the parents who allow their children to spend so much time playing and texting on their phones and other electronic devices they have become addicted to.
The time children are allowed to be on these devices should be limited, and parents should encourage their children to read and participate in other activities that enhance their minds.
- June Hoffman, Fort Worth
Olson’s truth
Thanks to Cynthia M. Allen for her Feb. 7 column, “What the Pope and Vance get wrong on immigration, Fort Worth Catholic bishop gets right,” about Bishop Michael Olson. The bishop truly lives to shepherd the souls under his care, to provide authentic Catholic teaching for their salvation and the glory of God. And he has stood firm against the anger and hate directed toward him.
It is good for the heart to read a commentary supporting him on an issue he has responded to publicly.
- Ava Eadie, Fort Worth
Be a sheep
I want Jesus to call me worthy of being Heaven bound. In the biblical story of “The Sheep and the Goats,” I therefore want to be a sheep. What is one characteristic of a sheep? If I am able to help strangers, I invite them in. I don’t deport them.
I once was embarrassed and ashamed but now am outraged to be called a follower of Jesus in this society because many Christians want to deport immigrants here illegally. Not only that, but too many Christians vilify them en masse.
Like-minded Christians, please make your voices heard. Be a sheep and don’t deport illegal immigrants. Instead, work toward ways for them to become legal. Invite them in.
- Brent Neuenfeldt, Fort Worth
Mavericks’ hope
Take heart, Mavericks fans. We have the Milwaukee Bucks to look toward as a model. They won an NBA championship in 1971 with a guy named Lew Alcindor, soon to become Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Three years later, they traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers for a box of rocks and promptly won another championship — 50 years later. Cue the parade route through the casino district in 2075.
- David Ross, Bedford
Disease risk
The headline on a Jan. 29 story on star-telegram.com read, “Kansas is dealing with a tuberculosis outbreak. Should Texans worry? Is there a vaccine?” In our global age, a disease outbreak anywhere has potential to be a disease outbreak everywhere. That’s why President Donald Trump’s order halting almost all foreign assistance programs was reckless and dangerous.
Termination or disruption of essential services for health care puts the lives of countless people at grave risk from diseases such as TB, the world’s deadliest infectious disease. Lifesaving efforts in our foreign assistance budget make up less than 1% of the federal budget and protect Texans from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
Obstruction of the will of Congress to fund such efforts must not stand.
- Claudia Morgan, Austin