Opinion
Letters to the editor, Sept. 20
TBO.com
Published: September 20, 2012
Need more evidencePublished: September 20, 2012
In reference to Martin Dyckman's commentary in your Aug. 30 edition, he seemed to be laying the public's lack of response to global warming partially on the religious right and our rejection of science. Our skepticism has nothing to do with science but rather with flimsy science.
We are hearing from those who claim that glaciers and polar caps are melting at an alarming rate, spelling doom for our planet. On what evidence are they basing their conclusions? Our own National Weather Service has only been around for about 150 years. How can you observe weather patterns that occur every 500 years with only 150 years of data?
Factor in the age of Earth and unknown events — such as earthquakes, floods, fires and meteor strikes — that would disrupt normal weather cycles and we realize we have no clue as to our weather history.
To have scientists belittle us because we need more evidence just shows the weakness of their arguments. It has nothing to do with the religious right or left or atheists. It has to do with thinking people of all persuasions needing to see more evidence.
Ellis Bond
New Port Richey
Wasting time, money
Our present education system is unfair to most students. We are wasting their lives dragging them through boring years in school. Oh, I forget, they have games to keep them entertained — at a cost to the taxpayer.
Ask any recent high school graduate if they could have completed the work in 10 years instead of 12. Ask them if they could have done it in eight years. Chances are you will get a yes from most of them.
About the only difference between sixth grade and eighth grade is that the type in the books gets smaller. Ninth grade is useless and 10th is a minor extension of eighth. So, if they could do this in eight to 10 years, it would save the state a lot of money. They could use this extra money to pay for college for at least some of them.
In fact, with a little brainstorming by our educators, they could do this in the same high schools, and possibly with the same teachers.
For the less academically inclined, high school is unnecessary and they should be getting full-time classes in some trade instead. They could get hands-on practice doing some charitable work, like making repairs to the school or homes of low-income people.
Ruth Seal
Hudson