Wall hasn’t even been studied

In the Jan. 5 letter “A wall is the best we can do,” the author, using the well-established mantra and simple retort used by the Trump administration, stated that “walls work” to justify a proposed $5.7 billion expenditure and the closing of the federal government.

While this rhetoric was used to feed nationalistic and xenophobic fears during the 2016 presidential campaign, Americans and not Mexico are now being asked to pay for this expense. I want the subject studied and the results publicized.

A February 2017 report by the Government Accountability Office found that the Department of Homeland Security had no way to determine whether border walls would work or if a less expensive alternative would be just effective. So far, no study has been ordered by the administration.

During the same time, the Cato Institute, Unicef and others wrote articles detailing the excessive expense, impracticality and ineffectiveness of President Donald Trump’s border wall plan.

For those who voted for Trump and honestly believed Mexico would pay for the border wall, please remember the adage “Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me,” and implore your U.S. representative to vote no on the wall and yes on reopening of the government. This is the only way we can avoid further penalizing federal workers and hold Trump responsible for not properly performing his job. Las Vegas

Many left wingers and even some Republicans condemn Trump for the chaos in his administration, as staff turnover proceeds. This is healthy for his organization: New people with new energy as new challenges arise is a good thing.

Trump is not afraid of organizational chaos, and uses it as leverage to promote his agenda and meet his promises to America. North Las Vegas

The most important factor in a student’s learning is his or her cooperation with the teacher’s instruction. Misbehaving is a guarantee of negligible classroom learning.

What works is attention to learning. When that becomes a problem, parents must be notified. As a teacher in Philadelphia, I always received total cooperation from parents, which made a difference. The student saw the supportive connection between home and school.

Recently, I spoke independently with three teachers and a counselor, and I heard the same thing: Parents are supportive of their misbehaving student. Even this small sampling was a revelation.

Without parental support, neither a smaller class size nor more technology nor books nor bigger budgets will help the low ranking of disobedient students.

So teachers, keep making home calls. And parents, understand the value of supporting your children’s teachers.

Las Vegas