Americans have unrealistic views on education
Re: “Ed. Secretary: Bad economy is not a ‘jobs crisis,’ it’s a ‘skills crisis’,” July 13
One of thewonders of the world is the myopic view American leaders take oftheeducation problem.
Germany sends only 24 percent of its K-12 students to college. The rest go into 380 apprentice programs.The result is low unemployment (5.4 percent) and consistent trade surpluses.
But President Obama’s education secretary thinks the Germans are a bunch of dummies and wants every American K-12 student to go to college — as if manyof them could get beyond the remedial reading they need in their freshman year.
Richard C. Kreutzberg
Bethesda
Pepco customers should stop complaining, offer support
Re: “Storm shows Pepco needs a management shake-up,” From Readers, July 6
Pepco is an acronym that, to me, means: Providing Electricity Plus Community Outreach. Unfortunately, most opinions on Pepco do not take the objective realities of life into consideration, so Pepco always receives a poor grade.
Mortals cannot control the unpredictable work of Mother Nature, and since Pepco is run by humans, it will always have its natural share ofoperational constraints.
If, however, we only extend a tenth of the nonmonetary supportwe give to public safety agencies or charitable organizations to Pepco, we willcontribute to reducing those constraints. Such efforts will enable Pepco to cost-efficiently achieve the aforementioned goals, producing tangible and intangiblebenefits to all, including a lower delivery cost of electricity.
In 2003 after Hurricane Isabel, I offered, inwriting, two unsolicited ideas to Pepco that could easily be developed in each neighborhood. Unfortunately, I am still waiting for Pepco’s reply.
In the spirit of enlightened self-interest, we should stop vilifying Pepco for its failings, some of which we can prevent, and join Pepco to improve its noble mission.
Oluwole Macarthy
Upper Marlboro
Obama administration’s war on energy production
President Obama and his Interior secretary, Ken Salazar, have worked to restrict access to our offshore oil and gas resources by canceling lease sales, delaying others and creating an atmosphere of uncertainty that has left job creators looking for other countries’ waters to host their offshore rigs.
The Interior Department just released a much-awaited plan for offshore drilling. That plan reinstitutes a 30-year moratorium on offshore energy exploration even though nationwide gas prices nearly doubled when Obama took office.
The Obama administration’s latest phase in its war on energy production is just one more reason whywe must make a change in the White House in November.
Al Eisner
Silver Spring
