Public schools ignore social studies

Parents at Durham Public schools are expressing concern over the introduction of a new reading program. While I am concerned about the scripted nature of the reading program, I am more disturbed by the lack (absence) of social studies time in the school day.

In my child's school, teachers were provided schedules that did not include any block of time for social studies while science was mandated to be taught every day. It is no coincidence that the only subjects tested are provided time in the schedule.

Social studies is supposedly integrated in the reading curriculum, however the connections are shallow and most times not related to the North Carolina social studies standard course of study. Social studies is vital in elementary schools; children learn about different family structures, neighborhoods, cities, states, history, economic concepts, the establishment of rules and laws, and most important how to be good citizens.

By removing social studies focused instruction, social studies topics will be watered down, unrelated and focused only on a few American heroes. In our changing school contexts, social studies provides some of the only opportunities for students who are not represented in the traditional curriculum to see themselves as important contributors to our society.

It is outrageous that social studies is being ignored in Durham Public Schools.

LARA WILLOX

Durham

GOP's last stand

One of the really effective GOP tactics is simply making stuff up. If you say it often enough and loud enough and if enough media parrot it, by golly, it becomes "fact." A book I'm reading, "Idiot America: How stupidity became a virtue in the land of the free," is simply chock full of numerous examples.

A letter to the editor this morning included statements like "Look at Texas, where tort reform has brought costs down by over 40 percent." That would be good news if it were true. Since malpractice insurance costs less than 1 percent of the total health care cost in this country, the statement is ridiculous. The writer says "nationalized health care will not work. It has failed in every experiment." The truth is that almost every other industrialized nation has nationalized health care and their costs and medical outcomes are far superior to ours.

In today's world, we have ready access to the truth by a search on the Internet. I have to conclude that there is a set of folks in this country that no facts known to man could change their views. It's as if God gave them this knowledge and it has to be right. We have to ignore these folks and concentrate on the ones who can be persuaded and are open to even picking solutions that other countries have invented and tested for us. This is the GOP's last stand, and it's an ugly thing to watch.

LARRY BUMGARDNER

Durham