Illuminating an Atypical Spiritual Quest

Who Speaks for Us?
"At Arm's Length" (July 21) highlights what my friends and I have discussed for months. We in the African-American community desperately need a new batch of leaders like Sen. Barack Obama who understand a more modern approach to handling the issues that affect us. Many of the so-called old-school black leaders such as "Messy Jesse" Jackson and Al Sharpton do not speak for the entire African-American community. Their style of preaching and picketing is predictable, ineffective and often more damaging. A very large number of educated black Americans do not approve of their racket, or should I say tactics!
Nicole Jackson
Bowie, Md.

What Makes an Effective Teacher?
Jonathan Alter's stance on merit pay for teachers fails to answer how we begin to determine the definition of an effective teacher ("Obama's No-Brainer on Education," July 21). If the pay is based solely on test scores, excellent teachers will lose their jobs due to circumstances beyond their control. Often labeled an excuse, this fact can be realized only when one attempts to control exactly what children think and how they test. We are not manufacturing products to be evaluated by "quality control." We are inspiring excellence and a love of knowledge, qualities not easily measured. Would it be acceptable to fire the third-grade teacher who taught a failing student for only a matter of months? Or would you go back and fire the kindergarten, first- and second-grade teachers as well? Teachers are well aware of incompetence in education, and we want to assist in generating solutions to weed out those who give the rest of us a bad name. It is not the reform of teachers unions we fear, it is lack of common sense.
Rebecca Cusick
Fall River, Mass.

Lowering class size, expanding the school day/week, parental-involvement work. That's what the research says. But regular schools do not have the budget or the support to do all three. In nearly 40 years as an educator, I often saw the most needy students forgo opportunities for after-school and Saturday tutorials. Parents of failing students are often defensive about their children and resistive to working with schoolteachers and administrators. Schools like KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) sometimes hurt regular schools because they attract the most-committed students and parents, and force a lack of resources elsewhere. Having spent more than half my career as an educational supervisor, I can attest to the dedication and intelligence of the vast majority of teachers and principals. Blaming them or their unions for the problems of urban education is not only unfair, but counterproductive.
Tess Conte
New York, N.Y.

Sen. Barack Obama's support of charter schools did not elicit the reaction at the National Education Association convention described by Jonathan Alter. Obama's support of public charter schools is not news, nor is the fact that NEA supports public-school choice. As for differentiated pay, many NEA affiliates have agreed to plans that include extra pay tied to a variety of factors. Obama made it clear to NEA members that educators must be involved in drafting any proposal that affects their compensation. The best thing for children as Alter advocates: professional salaries that reflect the work teachers do. However, the concept that educators are part of the solution and should be treated as allies is what Alter fails to grasp. Obama earned NEA's endorsement for president because of his genuine support for public education, and his record bears this out.
Reg Weaver, President
National Education Association
Washington, D.C.

Death in the ER Waiting Room
"The Woman Who Died in the Waiting Room" (July 21) is a tragic illustration of how our nation's troubled emergency-care system is harming some of our most vulnerable patients—persons in need of timely psychiatric care. These are patients, children included, who because of a chronic lack of psychiatric beds and resources, are routinely boarded, or held, in the emergency department, for 24 hours or longer, thus putting them, other patients and staff at unnecessary risk. As you note, the American College of Emergency Physicians' nationwide survey found nearly 80 percent of respondents said their hospitals typically "board" admitted patients in the ER instead of moving them to an inpatient bed, and nearly two thirds said their emergency department does not have a dedicated area for treating psychiatric patients, creating a dangerous situation. Moreover, while these patients are boarded, they rarely see a psychiatric specialist, and are subjected to an environment that may exacerbate their symptoms, often to the point of requiring sedation, rather than receiving the specific care they need. Finally, 85 percent of those surveyed thought wait times for all emergency patients would improve if better psychiatric services were made available, and more than 80 percent thought that instituting regional dedicated emergency psychiatric facilities nationwide would help. It's time to start implementing these much-needed recommendations—before even one more patient suffers needlessly.
Linda L. Lawrence, M.D. Pres., American College of Emergency Physicians
Washington, D.C.

On Trak to Convenient Travel
"All Eyes On Amtrak" (July 21) reminded me of some recent Amtrak trips enjoyed by me and my wife. I can't decide which part of the experiences we liked most: avoiding the drive to the airport, not having to wait at the airport or the legroom. Forgive me: I hope not too many people discover the joys of traveling by train soon. I have a suggestion for a slogan for Amtrak (I know, it didn't ask): Fly low—and you'll be flying high.
Herb Schwarz
Mill Creek, Wash.

Correction
In "Who Says Fewer Troops?" (PERISCOPE, July 21), we reported that a forthcoming Pentagon-sponsored report by the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., will recommend a steep drawdown of troops in Iraq "to as few as 50,000 by the spring of 2009, down from about 150,000 now." In fact, this is the personal recommendation of only one of the three principal authors of the report, John Arquilla, a professor at the school. In addition, we quoted a defense contractor as saying that Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus "is said to oppose the recommendations." According to Col. Steven Boylan, Petraeus's spokesman, the general "was not aware of any study being written by the Naval Postgraduate School." The story also reported that the study had been discussed inside the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board, but Geoff Morrell, spokesman for Defense Secretary Robert Gates, says there have been no such formal discussions. NEWSWEEK regrets the errors.

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