‘Education experts’

I teach in Oklahoma City Public Schools, and I am disappointed that the catchphrase “school-to-prison pipeline” has become the mantra of so many “education experts” who have not been in a real classroom in a very long time.

These overpaid ed gurus seem to act as though teachers like me simply want to throw students out the door so we can have an easy time while teaching. What we want is to save students from prison, unemployment and harm, but often, we spend most of our time and energy managing classrooms where a few disruptive students make it impossible for the majority of the class to learn.

Alternative education works. However, every year, usually before the first nine weeks are up, we are told that all available spaces in the alternative schools have been filled. We are then faced with a dilemma: Should we simply put up with the disruption, or do we show students that there are consequences for bad behavior? Too often, we just put up and shut up.

R. Lynn Green Oklahoma City

Frenetic thanks

Thank you so much for recognizing my friend and musical genius Tyson Meade with this prestigious award (Music, “Frenetic fortitude,” Christine Eddington, Oklahoma Gazette)! He is such a wonderfully creative soul. I am thankful to have such a progressive paper like Oklahoma Gazette, and this recognition of his work is one of the many reasons why.

Kevin Moore Norman

‘Those Okies’

The Republican-controlled Senate voted 40-7, mostly along party lines, to approve the bill by Broken Arrow Republican Sen. Nathan Dahm that would deny doctors performing abortions a medical license or renewal in Oklahoma. That even made The Sacramento Bee paper; you know, as in “those Okies.”

Fortunately, Sen. John Sparks amended the bill to require the attorney general to determine what the defense of the law in court would cost taxpayers. Maybe that price will convince House legislators that this is certainly not what Oklahoma needs in our budget crisis era; at least we should be hope so.

Chadwick Cox Norman

Underwater

Conservatives want to make government so small that they can drown it in a bathtub? They’ve drowned the schools, the roads and bridges, DHS and rural health care. What about the subsidies for corporations?

I doubt it!

Elda Davis Bethany

Priorities!

I think it is time for our state legislators to leave the gays and lesbians alone and move on to more important matters.

They should move to ban the manufacture, distribution, sale and consumption of frozen chicken-fried steaks. They are an abomination unto the eyes of God. After all, Jesus never ate a frozen chicken-fried steak.

Jay Rice Del City

Opinions expressed on the commentary page, in letters to the editor and elsewhere in this newspaper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of ownership or management.

Oklahoma Gazette provides an open forum for the discussion of all points of view in its Letters to the Editor section. The Gazette reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity. Letters can be mailed, faxed, emailed to [email protected] or sent online at okgazette.com. Include a city of residence and contact number for verification.

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