Bernie Sanders can fix education

Lackawaxen, Pa.: Will Marshall and Emily Langhorne opine that the Vermont senator’s public education policies support “a status quo that is failing poor and minority students” (“Bernie Sanders’ reactionary education plan,” op-ed, June 5). As they acknowledge, the success of charter schools (their favored alternative) is mixed. Some charters seem better than district public schools. Some seem worse. The majority (or at least a significant plurality) show no difference. What is different is control — government versus corporate (often white) — of public funds. This is the real issue. As minorities become majorities in many urban areas and demand their proportional share of power, charter schools are one of the strategies employed by the white establishment to maintain control.

Most experts agree that educational achievement correlates most significantly with socioeconomic measures. Applied to New York City, where almost three-quarters of public school students are classified as economically disadvantaged, Sanders’ (and other left-leaning politicians’) platforms address this. It is likely that, if the demographics were reversed and the economic advantage went to Hispanic and African-American families, the educational achievement metrics would be much different.

Finally, while constituting 35-40% of the New York City population (more if Hispanics self-identify as “white”), Caucasians represent only about one-sixth of the public school students. This raises the question: Whither white people? And suggests an answer: Require compulsory education to mean schooling within a government-run public school. Would that change alone lead to better public schools?

Glass half full

Brooklyn: Gov. Cuomo is right to say that climate change is the most pressing issue of the day. But, when he says he doesn’t want to “give people a political placebo where we put forth dates and goals we cannot make,” he is not acknowledging just how pressing this issue is (“Environmentalists and NY lawmakers clash with Cuomo over the gov’s foot-dragging on climate change legislation,” June 4). Essentially, the reports are conclusive. They are telling us we have to take far-reaching action now. The next legislative session is not good enough. He needs to sit down with Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins to get this done. New York can lead on this. It’s too pessimistic to decide that we can’t reach these goals. Let’s set them and then put our energy into reaching them.

Joke’s on us

Lynbrook, L.I.: Crime is down, according to statistics. Really? Who are they kidding? There is nothing but crime reported on the newscasts

and in the papers everyday. And regarding the burning of the LGBTQ flags in Harlem: Why even look for the culprit? I am so against the burning of any flag. When our American flag was burnt and stepped on, it was excused as symbolic speech that is protected by our First Amendment. This won’t be any different if the person is caught. What a joke.

The death of privacy

Oceanside, L.I.: It seems like there is a security breach every other month of a name company by hackers stealing personal information of customers. The latest is Quest Diagnostics, a medical lab company with sensitive details of people using their services. What angers me is that more and more we are being pushed into doing things online, exposing medical data, banking info, Social Security numbers, credit card numbers and other private info. The reality is that these companies do not care to have the proper firewalls due to the cost of hardening their systems. As a result, we become more and more vulnerable. If that is not the case, then they should prove otherwise. Until then, it will be a matter of time of the next breach, the exposure of more privacy, the company apology, and business as usual.

The little things

Woodside: Instead of castigating our president, I wonder if Chuck Schumer could spare a little time to do something about the high cost of prescriptions for his seniors.

Not his president

Far Rockaway: Those calling for the immediate impeachment of Trump are making the same mistake progressives have made for over a century: choosing idealism over effectiveness. Timing. Is. Everything. To prevail in 2020, we need to T.I.E. it all together. A premature attempt to topple Trump may be satisfying emotionally to the firebrands, or intellectually to purists tormented over precedents, but, in the face of a Republican-led Senate, it would be counterproductive. Denying him reelection must be the priority. Allowing Trump to crow for a year leading up to the election about his “exoneration,” witch hunts, partisan coups, etc., is stage-managing for him. Instead, contrast the effect of conducting impeachment proceedings in the heat of the 2020 election battle. One embarrassing revelation after another. Watergate on steroids. Exactly. Wait a year. Build the case. His lack of decorum and infantile behavior speaks for itself. Rather, expound on his authoritarianism, his crippling and perverting of federal agencies, his self-defeating and cruel policies — domestic and foreign — and his incompetent and reactionary judicial appointees. This Trump kakistocracy, seemingly designed by Mel Brooks, has feet of sand. If only we have patience. What we need is 2020 foresight.

Prison perspective

Manhattan: With Paul Manafort’s transfer to Rikers to face state charges, the media has gone overboard again. This time it is erroneously expounding on how the former Trump campaign manager has gone from a good or easy prison in Pennsylvania to a notorious lock up. There is no such thing as an easy prison. No correctional facility is a country club. No prison is good. Only fools and people who have never been on the “inside” could call any place of incarceration “easy.” In any prison, you are locked away from your family and your friends. Your “freedoms” cease to exist. Time becomes your worst enemy. Your mind comes in at a close second. And now that it’s gone, you finally understand what freedom

/DAVID MCNEW/GETTY IMAGES was really about. Go find some real news.

It’s so Unfair(stein)

Erwinna, Pa.: Why is it that the criticism of the alleged faulty prosecution of the Central Park Five is being blamed solely on Linda Fairstein, when she worked under the direct authority of the then-Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau? Why does he get a pass while Fairstein is thrown under the bus?

An idea

Long Beach, L.I.: The Business Council of New York State supports giving (illegal) undocumented immigrants driver’s licenses. They have their priorities out of order. How about a bill that helps these immigrants become citizens of this great country? Then they learn English and get a legal job, all within a time period of two to three years, before they get a license.

No one like Frank

Cranford, N.J.: To Voicer Herb Stark: How right you are about Sinatra. He was, will be, and still is “the greatest of all time”! We still have his music to listen to. And how, as he sang, “put your dreams away for another day and he will take his place in your heart.”