Letters

What Teachers Hate About Parents

"People wonder why children are rude, belligerent and disrespectful. Your article has the answer: they learn it from their parents."

JILL A. GORZE - Pittsburgh

I TAUGHT HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH FOR 34 years and can strongly identify with your article "Parents Behaving Badly" [Feb. 21]. It is so refreshing to read something from the teacher's point of view for a change. Most articles note the flaws in the education profession but seldom discuss, let alone blame, parents for any part in the problem. I am pleased that most of the parents I was actually able to reach were cooperative. I did, however, occasionally encounter a mom or dad who displayed a less than realistic view of the adolescent angel taking up space (and often little else) in my classroom.

ANASTASIA TEROVOLAS - Elmwood Park, Ill.

TO TRIVIALIZE PARENTS' CONCERNS about their children's education by referring to them as "mama grizzly bears" and "monster parents" reveals a bias against parental involvement in schools. Educators need to understand that the days of viewing the teacher as "the expert in education" are over. If a parent's advocacy of a student or school program looks like adversity to a teacher, perhaps it is because the teacher is squirming under the just weight of accountability.

SHELLEY L. HOUSTON - Eugene, Ore.

I AM THE MOTHER OF TEENAGERS WHO are succeeding in school, and I thank the competent teachers they have had. I know I could not do a better job. Parents who think they can should home-school.

NORA MARTIN VETTO - Scottsdale, Ariz.

FINALLY! A PUBLICATION THAT HAS THE guts to call a spade a spade. This behavior of overprotective parents has gone on far too long. Parents, shape up or ship out! School boards, hire superintendents with the courage to instill some discipline in students. Only when parents stop spoiling their children and administrators stop being "politically correct" will this bad behavior cease.

HARRY BRUNDRIDGE - Hermitage, Mo.

THE MORE IMPORTANT ISSUE IS WHAT parents hate about teachers.I hate teachers who cannot spell or write. I hate the fact that these illiterate underachievers are responsible for teaching and evaluating my children. I hate the fact that these teachers receive the support of a union that makes the Teamsters look like wimps. I hate the fact that teachers apparently wish to claim all the credit for good students but blame parents for bad students. And I hate the mere notion that teachers are even asked what they hate about parents.

MARY ENGELMAN - Cherry Hill, N.J.

AS A RETIRED HIGH SCHOOL PRINCIPAL with 37 years in education, I thank you for your report. It was balanced and right on target. Teachers will feel gratified that someone understands and sympathizes with their growing plight. Parents who fit the negative paradigms should take a good look in the mirror--and reflect.

DENNIS NAUGHTON - Foxborough, Mass.

AFTER A 28-YEAR CAREER IN EDUCATION, I am leaving the field in June because of the very conditions you describe. The pressure of overindulgent parents who make educators miserable is more stress than I want to deal with. One point that you should have emphasized: the weakness of school administrators who turn their backs on teachers in order to avoid hassles with parents.

CAROLE SCANLON - Chino Hills, Calif.

WHAT PARENTS HATE ABOUT TEACHERS IS that they rely on us to do their job! Parents should not be expected to morph into tutors by night. I agree that teachers work hard and deserve to be paid appropriately for it, but that's what tax dollars are for. Teachers and parents at odds should turn to their local board of education for solutions.

ARLENE NEUMANN - Hicksville, N.Y.

I HAVE WAITED A LONG TIME FOR AN HONest look at what educators must deal with. The demands, requests and tantrums go further than anyone can imagine. I have taught for seven years. I love kids. However, some parents have made my life so unbearable that I'm considering a career change. Don't get me wrong --there are plenty of parents who appreciate our commitment. But there are a few every year who make a teacher cringe. Maybe your article will open the eyes of those who need it the most before all the good teachers opt out.

KAREN MATOS - Lake in the Hills, Ill.

Charles and Camilla

BY AND LARGE, I DON'T FOLLOW AND don't give a hoot about Britain's royals, but this time I want to say bravo and best wishes for a long life of growing old together to the steadfast couple [Feb. 21]. In centuries to come, Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles' love story will undoubtedly be the subject of novels, plays, films and maybe even an opera or a Broadway musical. And, of course, their parts will be played by beautiful young people. The true story is better.

PATRICIA COLLIER - Annapolis, Md.

FOR YEARS, PRINCE CHARLES SEEMED to be aging ungracefully, since we automatically compared him with Princess Diana. Suddenly, next to Camilla, he looks like an assured and happy middle-aged man, which is exactly right. How nice that once in a while a man actually chooses a woman his own age instead of a fetching, young knockout!

KARIN JUDKINS - Turin, Italy

THE BRITISH ROYAL FAMILY SHOULD HAVE let Charles propose to Camilla right at the outset. Broken hearts, broken families and unnecessary death could have been avoided. If it had not been for Charles' on-and-off affair with Camilla, he would not have been separated or divorced from Diana. Diana would not have taken up with Dodi Fayed, and there would have been no car accident in Paris. But wait, there would also not have been Diana, Queen of Hearts. It all boils down to providence.

AUGUSTINE KALLON - Hemmingen, Germany

Peddling Nuclear Secrets

YOUR STORY ON PAKISTAN'S NUCLEAR scientist A.Q. Khan described how his global smuggling network sold nuclear materials and technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea [Feb. 14]. I am not defending Khan, but I must point out that the U.S. has the world's largest arsenal of nuclear weapons and is the only country to use them on human beings. In the process of removing Saddam Hussein, the U.S. showered conventional bombs on Iraq, killing innocent citizens. The torturing of prisoners in Abu Ghraib was also a heinous crime. So it is hypocritical for Americans to condemn Khan when it is the U.S. that has lost the confidence and trust of the world.

NIZAR ALI - London

TIME'S REPORTING ON KHAN'S DANGERous game of selling nuclear technology reminded me how vitally the world needs a global nuclear nonproliferation policy. But the credibility of the nuclear powers in attempting to limit the spread of the bomb is hampered by their inaction in pursuing disarmament. Even worse, the U.S.'s plan to design a new generation of nuclear arms deprives Bush's government of any moral leadership in the nuclear nonproliferation campaign. Khan's nefarious transactions made the world a more dangerous place; the development of smarter bombs by the U.S. would do the same thing.

PETER SCHOCH - Meisterschwanden, Switzerland

IT IS INTERESTING TO CONTEMPLATE JUST how high up in the Pakistani government and military establishment Khan's allies are. He was too hot to handle, so even making him the fall guy for selling Pakistan's secrets was out of the question. This was an act of treason so blatant and outrageous that there are few parallels in any nation, authoritarian or not. Khan's pardon was part of a cover-up.

RAMA PREM - Freiburg, Germany

Show and Ask at Gitmo

YOUR REPORT CONFIRMS THAT THE MILItary used sexual tactics at the Guantanamo Bay prison [Feb. 21], where female interrogators touched handcuffed detainees in sexually suggestive ways in an attempt to extract information. Those practices, deliberately violating Muslim taboos, have less to do with sex than with religion. Religious humiliation and degradation are prohibited by international law and dishonor our country. As the torture scandal continues to unfold--and where will it end?--we have every reason to demand an independent prosecutor.

GEORGE HUNSINGER

McCORD PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY - PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY - Princeton, N.J.

TO ATTACH THE WORD ABUSE TO THE interrogation methods your report described is laughable. Those sexually tinged techniques are a far cry from applying electrodes to a prisoner's genitalia. Categorizing such methods as "abuse" be- littles the attempts to demand account-ability from upper-level Administration and military officials for atrocities in other prisons.

JORMA SKEEN - Memphis, Tenn.

High Stakes in North Korea

THE VEXING TURN OF EVENTS IN THE nuclear standoff between North Korea and the U.S. [Feb. 21] could resurrect history: the Cuban missile crisis.

KHAIRUL AMRI BIN MOHD SIDIK - Singapore

NORTH KOREA WANTS TO DEVELOP NUclear weapons only as a deterrent to the threatening nuclear superpower of the U.S. Bush included North Korea in his notorious "axis of evil," along with Iraq and Iran. He invaded Iraq and has now focused world attention on Iran. He said he loathes North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and called him a "pygmy." At one time the U.S. maintained up to 40,000 troops at North Korea's border with the South. Bush needs only to look in the mirror to see the person most responsible for North Korea's going nuclear.

RENO S. ZACK - San Dimas, Calif.

Reining In Iran

IRAN MAY ALREADY POSSESS A NUCLEAR weapon or be able to produce one in a few years [Feb. 14]. Iran has reached a point of no return. Can the U.S. take care of the situation, or does it need a so-called coalition? I am sure the Bush Administration has learned a grim lesson in Iraq and will think twice before going to war with Iran.

NAJIB FAHIM - Casablanca

BUSH MAY ALREADY HAVE CONTINGENCY plans for bombing Iran, an act that would inflame the Middle East still more and foment violent anti-American feeling.

MICHAEL D. MITCHELL - Spalding, England

A Sister's Sympathy

IT IS INTERESTING TO NOTE THAT IN YOUR interview with Roman Catholic Sister Helen Prejean about her stand against the death penalty [Feb. 21], she did not express her sympathy for the innocent victims of crime or their grieving relatives. She talked about the letters from prisoners' mothers as being some of the saddest, but didn't mention the victims' mothers.

LEONID OLEINIK - Wanamassa, N.J.

SISTER PREJEAN JUST MAY BE THE MOST civilized person on the planet. I'm not completely certain that we deserve her.

WILLIAM BILBRO - Las Cruces, N.M.

For the Missing Soldier

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ARTICLE ON PRIVATE First Class Matt Maupin, who was taken captive in Iraq 10 months ago and is still missing [Feb. 21]. Though many Americans may have forgotten about Matt, a number of us haven't. I feared that type of tragedy when my son was in the service, so I feel a connection to Matt's family. I hope he is alive. Thanks for keeping his plight at the forefront. We must never forget our heroes.

VIRGINIA REBYAK - Bear, Del.