Blame the NC legislature, not the pandemic, for widening learning gaps in schools

NC schools

Regarding “NC leaders warn learning gaps will widen in pandemic,” (Dec. 2):

Long before COVID-19, a judge in the Leandro case ruled that students weren’t being given a sound basic education as promised by the N.C. Constitution. COVID-19 just magnifies an existing problem.

The gaps in learning that legislators Craig Horn and Rick Horner mention were there before and will be around until the N.C. General Assembly finally decides to vote on policy that helps our most marginalized children. The blame doesn’t lie with the pandemic, but with the legislature failing to fund students who need help the most.

Susan Book

Save Our Schools NC

Food workers

Regarding “Food workers should be among the first to receive a COVID-19 vaccine,” (Nov. 29 Opinion):

Smithfield Foods CEO Ken Sullivan purports that food industry workers should be first to receive a vaccine. I agree, but not for the reasons he cites.

These workers have long endured few labor protections, tenuous working conditions, and little health care protection. The industry took advantage of workers by having them declared “essential,” even as they were being exploited for profit.

Coronavirus outbreaks in plants skyrocketed because workers were not being protected with masks and social distancing. Some in the industry refused to inform workers of outbreaks and instituted a bonus plan for working when sick.

These workers should be protected because they are heroes and because their employers continue to drag their feet in protecting them.

John Reseigne, Apex

Compromise

Compromise is now essential. The election laid bare the divisions in American society that President Trump so deftly manipulated.

One hopes that those in his party will regain some backbone and acknowledge the damage he has done to our democracy — and work with Joe Biden to calm the waters.

We can either learn to work together, or descend into fragmentation and failure. We must address economic and social inequality so everyone feels they have a stake our society. We’ve seen what happens when every man is put against every other man. We get anger, disillusionment and even calls for disunion.

The U.S. is and always has been an experiment. Can people wisely govern themselves or must we be governed? That is still an open question.

Ken Jones, Chapel Hill

Joe Biden

C’mon man, in reality this is just a third term for Obama under the guise of leftover Biden. Simply put, Biden is bringing back many of the people from the Obama-Biden administration in a not so veiled attempt to continue its failed policies. If you think Biden has any of his own ideas about anything, think again.

Jon Spargur, Durham

Confirmation bias

Regarding “Media objectivity,” (Nov. 29 Forum):

The Democrats in Congress did not “subvert” Trump and his administration by investigating the many cases of malfeasance and illegality. Rather, they attempted to hold them to the rule of law using legal, established rules and procedures.

This is not an issue of a lack of objective, nonpartisan journalism. This is an issue of the worst kind of confirmation bias, those believing claims that appeal to their views, despite a complete lack of factual substantiation.

Our democracy remains at risk to politicians with non-democratic tendencies if citizens fail to recognize when the normal functions of government are truly being subverted. The past four years should have taught us that the absence of verified facts supporting a narrative indicates it’s a lie, not proof of conspiracy.

Perrin Hirshman, Raleigh

Marc Thiessen

Regarding “My mother’s legacy,” (Nov. 29 Opinion):

It was disappointing to read that Marc Thiessen believes our country was founded on an ideal of personal freedom, and not “blood and soil.” I disagree! Thiessen should visit any Native American reservation or the slave museums at the Whitney Plantation in Louisiana and the Old Slave Mart Museum in Charleston. Plenty of blood and soil there, Marc.

Tony Madejczyk, Durham