Invest in early childhood education
We can be deeply grateful for Penobscot County Sheriff Troy Morton. He writes in his March 20 BDN OpEd about the abundant long-term research that has shown the dramatic benefits of daycare and early childhood education.
Those of us who work in child development have been aware of these findings for decades. The long-term benefits of early child education extend beyond avoidance of crime to increased participation in higher education, reduced substance abuse, improved career accomplishments and marital success. Such findings are quite rare and unique in social sciences.
The experts who work in daycare and preschool have remarkable talents. They help children to acquire social and moral reasoning. Academic economists have been researching this field, and a study at Harvard University calculated the financial value of a talented kindergarten teacher at about $320,000 per year.
It is difficult to think of a more valuable public investment for our society.
David Hawkins
Hampden
Hold offenders accountable
As a language teacher, I often discuss teaching methodologies with my colleagues and friends. Of great debate are the implications of grammar instruction: If a message is comprehensible, must it be grammatically “correct”? Does the mention of grammatical terms instantly put students to sleep?
Regardless of the allegedly soporific effects of grammar instruction, I do know one word that is guaranteed to wake up my kids every time: fair. Perhaps we are all intrinsically drawn to this question, or perhaps it is my proximity to adolescent minds making me sensitive, but as I drove into work this morning, I was outraged by the unfair grammatical treatment of women in English-language media.
Why, when referring to violence against women, do we use the passive voice? A woman was raped. By using the passive voice, our attention is focused on the woman and the act of violence, while the perpetrator’s role is effaced. Worse, since we are left thinking about the victim herself, we start to wonder what it is about her that caused her to be raped. A woman was raped, not five men raped a women.
We know that the language we choose has real consequences on how people behave. We need to use our language consciously to hold those who commit violence accountable. A man raped. A man is responsible. We have the power in our everyday speech to ignore and excuse, or to name and condemn injustice when we see it. It’s time to start using that power.
Rebecca Pruente
Portland
Garden Show disappointing
I just wanted to express my disappointment in the Bangor Garden Show this year. I have been taking my mother, grandmother, sister and aunt for more than 10 years. This has become a wonderful spring tradition. We look forward to the springtime displays after a long winter.
We were charged $8 a person for absolutely nothing. There was one display worth seeing with the Volkswagen filled with flowers. There were fewer vendors than usual, and there have been more displays and speakers in the past.
We were so very disappointed, and we will not bother to go again. We will find another springtime tradition.
Carolyn Murphy
New Gloucester
Poliquin stance on health care
On Monday morning, I called Rep. Bruce Poliquin’s office with a reasonable and certainly important question for my representative in Congress: How had he decided to vote on the GOP bill to replace the Affordable Care Act just before it was pulled from the House floor at 3 p.m. Friday?
House Speaker Paul Ryan had to have known Poliquin’s final decision because his “yes” or “no” was factored into his count before he yanked the bill. His legislative staff must have known how he would be voting. Republican whips must have known where he stood as well.
The only people in the dark were the people he represents. He was moments away from going to the House floor and entering his vote electronically. It would then have popped up as a green light or a red light by his name, there for everyone to see on the upper wall of the House chamber. Green or red? Yes or no? What was his final decision?
This isn’t a kid’s game of “Red Light, Green Light” we’re playing. It’s about the necessity for affordable and comprehensive health care for tens of thousands of people living in the rural 2nd Congressional District. Last time I looked, we’re all his constituents. Our lives — and the cost and availability of health care — matter a lot to us. Was he poised to vote for that bill or to kill it?
Poliquin should kindly come out from under his desk and show us where he stands.
Patricia Griffith
Belfast
Health care mindshift
We operate a very small food business in Aroostook County. I believe there is a health care solution for us if there is a solution for everyone. Perhaps there is a line or two in this letter that will support the efforts of our representatives in Congress.
Long before health care reform, one of the historical challenges with health care in America seems to have been the perceived guarantee of health care through our hospitals and emergency rooms for the uninsured or underinsured. Over the years, systemwide costs continued to spiral out of control.
How do we begin to fix this? Start with a health care mindshift from “no matter what” to “knowing what matters.” For example, auto insurance is affordable because stakeholders respect the basic rules of the road with safe driving habits taught in school. Likewise, our American health care system could be made more affordable if we taught the basic “rules of well-being” and the associated costs through our schools. Like the privilege of driving, the real benefits and costs associated with health care should begin with education.
The bottom line is a mindshift of education toward “knowing what matters” should result in a step forward in sustainable health care coverage. Over the span of our lifetimes, we are all stakeholders in the American health care system.
Our Maine representatives and senators seem receptive to input from every corner of our state and country. We believe a solution is within reach of this Congress.
John and Mary Freeman
Westmanland