Cooperation is key

Dear editor:

I welcome responses to my letters, like those of Ms. Varhalla (March 29) and Mr. Stover (March 31). Such responses allow me the opportunity to present facts to support my opinions.

As an educator of public schools and colleges for 47 years, I strongly resent the implication that students are taught propaganda and political correctness. The students at the Florida school, according to their statements, are not concerned only with gun control, but with a more comprehensive approach to preventing violence caused by guns. The argument that “guns do not kill” is false. Yes, we all know that guns must be shot by human hands, but without guns, the human mind would not have such an accessible instrument of death.

Has Ms. Varhalla listened to the students? Has she considered the ramifications of students under 21 owning guns? Has she researched the need for AK-15s? My country family hunted all their adult lives (and I did as a boy), but none ever needed an assault rifle. Disturbed minds wanting to commit violence look first for an accessible weapon, and guns are everywhere.

Does Ms. Varhalla know that according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, that in 2015 alone, there were 35,252 deaths caused by guns? That

1,300 children die each year from gunshot and 5,800 are wounded? That, of the 4,600 teenage suicides yearly, onehalf are by gunshot? And Ms. Varhalla’s comparison of the rhetoric of President Trump and President Obama is ludicrous! What a contrast in two tones!

As to Mr. Stover’s response that students learn to think through osmosis in

12 years is an oversimplified approach to education. Some “thinking” comes that way, but using material in various classes like social studies and literature, that demonstrate two possible approaches to solving a problem, causes students to think about the difference in facts and emotions.

Requiring authorities for support in student essays cause students to think directly. Who is an authority? I use a particular medical doctor because I have faith that she is an authority. Who is the authority in education? The parent or the teacher? One would never downplay the importance of parenting from infancy on, but parents often, being human, act from emotion, not reason.

Yes, I do support the courage these students are demonstrating by asking adults in Congress to consider more comprehensive solutions to our growing violence. I do consider them brave for thinking and acting. “Out of the mouths of babes comes wisdom.” And, the book was right — it does take a village. Our movement west came about through working together, not through individual wagon trains. American individuality is to be praised, but cooperation is the key to success! John W. “Doc” Crawford Hot Springs