A Region Long Defined by Its History

Musing on Growing Old
Kirk Douglas's "What Old Age Taught Me" (My Turn, Aug. 11) was enjoyable and instructive. Having grown up watching his movies, I find it most satisfying to see him write with so much soul, spirit and insight into life and what makes it meaningful. Who says a stroke is the end of clear thinking and writing? God bless 91-year-old Kirk Douglas at this stage in his life.
Bruce Kermane
Huntington Beach, Calif.

At age 87, I am in Kirk Douglas's class, yet I hardly regard him as a typical aging citizen. Despite humble beginnings, he rose to heights and prosperity most people only dream about. I salute his wonderful generosity toward the needy that makes him feel good. But let's remember the seniors who are barely able to meet the copays on drugs and medical care. "Grow old along with me/The best is yet to be" is great poetry, but it hardly meets the realities of old age.
Frances Nunnally
Richmond, Va.

Israel ' s Separation Barrier
"Jerusalem Up Against the Wall" implies that for a young Palestinian who can't afford to buy a house and is angry at having to work for an Israeli-owned company, murdering innocent Israelis may be not only understandable, but even justifiable. You decry the "separation barrier" as well as the Israeli crackdown on "the Islamists in the name of security" while barely alluding to the hundreds of terrorist acts that have been attempted and/or perpetrated against Israeli civilians since 1992. Your article blames the Israelis for the tragic plight of the Palestinian people, while ignoring the fact that billions of dollars in international aid have disappeared into Palestinian coffers. Furthermore, the Palestinian leadership has rejected proposals that would return 95 to 98 percent of the land they demand, in return for peace. So the questions to ponder are: If terrorists stopped lobbing bombs into Israel—and Palestinian leaders opted for peace over terror—do you seriously believe that the Israelis would continue to launch military actions against refugee camps and build security barriers? But if Israel halted all military action and dismantled the fence, do you think that terrorists would stop trying to murder innocent Israelis? To bring this home: many Americans favor building a fence to keep Mexicans from entering this country in search of work. Can you imagine how we would react if they started lobbing bombs over the border into Texas schoolyards?
Jane E. Hughes
Centerville, Mass.

Embedded in Teach For America
Can you make Donna Foote's story on Teach For America required reading for the presidential candidates ("Lessons From Locke," Aug. 11)? Obama and McCain talk primarily about the Iraq War and the economy, but our high-school graduation rate is 19th among developing countries. Now that is a problem.
Bracey Campbell
Columbia, Tenn.

As a former teacher and the mother of two teachers, I was shocked to read Donna Foote's statement that "the single most important factor in student achievement is the quality of the teacher." Parental involvement and support are crucial to student achievement and are sadly lacking in most underachieving situations. Teachers are worn out by poor conditions and no support. In previous generations many more parents were involved and were supportive of teachers' expectations of students in both behavior and academics.
Ann Hanton
Ann Arbor, Mich.

Extolling the virtues of Teach For America is definitely in vogue. And as Donna Foote reported, this praise has translated into record donations. However, it is not clear how much positive change, if any, TFA recruits realize in the schools where they work. In fact, according to a 2004 study conducted by Mathematica Policy Research, TFA recruits did not do much better than other teachers. Where TFA recruits did do better than other teachers the difference was found to be minimal. The reason TFA is so popular, especially among the elite, is that it feeds into the simplest critique of public education: it is all the teacher's fault. This is true only if you do not take into account factors such as access to resources, class size and home environment. Beating up on teachers is easy. What is hard is devising a solution to improve the education of the most vulnerable population of this country.
Pablo Portillo
San Francisco, Calif.

© 2008