Value of vocational education
I have a cure for large college debt that kids incur today. All you hear on TV and in the news is college, college, college. Well, not everyone wants, can afford or cares to go to college. Go to a vocational school. Courses in vocational school can be six-month, one-year and two-year programs. You can get a certificate or a diploma, depending on the course.
Not everyone wants to go to college, but everyone needs plumbers, electricians, carpenters, mechanics, heating and refrigeration people, truck drivers, auto body repair, business administration, animal care, appliance repair, cosmetology, culinary arts, dental hygienist, fashion design, gunsmithing, motorcycle repair, heavy equipment repair, hotel management, legal aid, locksmith, makeup artist, medical lab tech, optician, paralegal, physical therapy aide, small engine repair, watch repair, welding, X-ray tech and on and on.
College education is all well and good — we need doctors, scientists, engineers, maybe lawyers, etc. But our world doesn’t all run on college degrees and a lot of these jobs pay be better with a hell of a lot less student debt.
So next time you think about your kid wanting to go to school after high school, keep vocational schools on the list. Getting your hands dirty is not a bad thing. Some of the smartest people with the most common sense are those who worked with their hands.
Gary King
Howland
Toll of gun violence
We lose more people in this country to gun violence every two years than we did in the Vietnam War. Sad. So, that tells me that it is safer to go to war than live in a major city in the U.S.
If we want to even make a start in reducing gun death we need to inform (educate) the public with the facts every week.
Also, parents need to get involved with their children rather than turn their heads to the problems.
We only see riots when a police officer shoots someone.
Most people don’t realize that it only takes less than a second to get shot. That doesn’t leave an officer much time to make a decision. Please help to wake up America. Gun control is only one small step.
Donald Crowell
Holden
Speak out for refugees
We are speaking out for the Syrian refugees and against the fear mongering of many governors and elected representatives in the fervent hope that others will also speak out and common sense ultimately prevail.
Of course, there is the issue of safety, but let us consider the facts. There are millions of American Muslims living in our country, yet during the last decade nearly all mass murders of school children, college students and theatergoers have been committed by Christians. We in Maine have thousands of miles of unsecured borders and seacoast. Any foreign terrorist intent upon doing us harm can enter our country if they have passports or simply landed on our unprotected coastline.
Why do the Syrian refugees pose any greater threat to our security than other refugees? Or, why would we feel safer if only Christian Syrians were allowed sanctuary? The answer many choose is that Muslims are “others,” not like us. Regrettably, most of us have not read the Quran or the Pillars of the Faith, and too many of us rely upon the political rhetoric of the religious right who shamefully stir our fears and passions against a world population of 1.5 billion Muslims.
We are a nation of immigrants and we must honor our commitment to humanity. How can we continue to be a beacon for democracy and human rights if we refuse? Indeed, such refusal gives merit to the accusation that we are the “Great Satan” in that we have no morality or charity.
Dorothy and Julian Cannell
Northport