New views, please

Those outraged by the governor’s statements regarding education miss the point: Taxpayer money to fund education is limited and our state’s elected leaders must choose what programs of study deserve taxpayer money and are in the state’s best interest.

No one is suggesting literature, arts and sociology-based studies aren’t needed or important; they are. The governor’s job is to make choices that advance N.C. economically.

I think the tendency of many programs that arouse students for “advocacy and social change” is to focus on past negative beliefs and behaviors that most Americans have moved past. It’s like picking at a wound, never allowing it to heal.

We got a lot right in our history, in spite of past injustices. I think the view of many N.C. residents is that some programs teach students to be victims and to find nothing but injustice everywhere, and that all the good and decent ideals of America past are nullified by the mistakes we made.

Cutting funding for programs such as these may be “anti-intellectual” to some, as one writer stated. It represents a poor use of educational dollars to others. It is the task of elected officials to make those choices.

Kenneth Black

Pittsboro