Weathers Gets an A
To the Editor:
In response to Ed Weathers’ Viewpoint article “A Grade-A Mistake” in your October 16th issue, I couldn’t agree more! I believe it is grades and test scores that have become most valuable to students, teachers, and administrators. As Weathers points out, when a grade becomes the motivating factor, a student cannot afford to make an error. In my opinion, error is the means for discovery, greater understanding, and growth. When it is inhibited and degraded, learning is thwarted. As I have witnessed many times, students are no longer motivated from within and often become parrots and pleasers.
There is certainly a lot more to consider than dress codes and funding when it comes to improving our learning environments.
Grace Benz
Memphis
A Perfect Organic Liberal
To the Editor:
I enjoy checking in on the Flyer occasionally to see what’s going on in the Bluff City. But I also enjoy reading the increasingly purple rants of Tim Sampson’s We Recommend column. It’s a perfect, weekly, organic example of how the liberals in today’s society are literally losing it. His spiteful tantrums, like Ted Kennedy’s, show that those on the angry left will never understand why George W. Bush will be remembered by history as one of our greatest presidents.
Look at today’s (October 23rd issue) column: The writer is still hung up on the Florida election controversy from 2000. Typically, he hoists his arguments on inaccuracies or fallacies. Noting that Bill Clinton was “the last president to hold office by being elected by a majority of the popular vote,” the crybaby forgets that Bill Clinton never achieved a majority in either election. He won thanks to a fluke named Ross Perot. If Sampson’s going to throw a fit, at least he should get his facts straight. Or better yet, why doesn’t he stick to telling us what’s going on in Memphis?
Rob Ikard
Nashville
Not A Willie Fan
To the Editor:
I want to know why some City Council members think Mayor Willie Herenton is deserving of a significant pay raise. He serves his own interests, intervening in issues only to raise his own stature. It is now months after the storm that caused so much upheaval and we still have problems with trees and power lines (see Jackson Ave. behind Rhodes College, for example).
When you add it all up, it spells a pay cut, not a $40,000 raise.
Glenn Condrey
Memphis
No Regrets
To the Editor:
Wow!! Seeing the editor’s note in the 765th issue (Letters, October 23rd issue) almost made me fall off thejohn when I read it. Who’d have thought thesuper-liberal Flyer would ever regret anything? I bet this is a first,after the previous 764 times the Flyer had a chance to do it.
Maybe there is hope after all.
Rik Anderson
Memphis
Editor’s note: The Flyer sincerely regrets that you did not fall off the john.
A Lack of Compassion?
To the Editor:
Those enjoying the stories about Rush Limbaugh’s addiction to painkillers (Letters, October 23rd issue) should step back, take a good look at their lack of compassion, and ask themselves if they truly like what they are becoming. The joy that they are experiencing over someone else’s misery says a lot more about them than getting addicted to painkillers (for pain) says about Limbaugh.
To be less than perfect is all too human; to enjoy someone else’s pain is inhumane and cruel. Apparently, the first thing lost in the war on drugs wasn’t just the Bill of Rights. It was our very humanity and our sense of compassion.
Chris Leek
Memphis
The Memphis Flyer encourages reader response. Send mail to: Letters to the Editor, POB 1738, Memphis, TN 38101. Or call Back Talk at 575-9405. Or send us e-mail at letters@memphisflyer.com. All responses must include name, address, and daytime phone number. Letters should be no longer than 250 words.
