Middle, high schools should be teaching history Re: “The Greatest Generation’s triumphs, trials are lost to young Americans,” Dec. 7.
Colleges are not the ones failing to provide students with the educational foundation they deserve, nor are they the primary institutions for teaching youngsters about American history.
Middle schools and high schools are supposed to provide that academic foundation. Colleges only teach fundamental, in-depth courses in American history to students whose major requires it as an elective or those who major in political science.
Therefore, many students who attend college should already know that the Battle of the Bulge occurred during World War II, the historical significance of Pearl Harbor, the fact that James Madison is known as the “Father of the Constitution” and that our wartime enemies were Germany, Italy and Japan.
Cargill Kelly
Manassas
Obama’s ‘New Nationalism’ describes FDR, not TR
Re: “Now it’s ‘Obama the Irrelevant’,”Dec. 6
Gene Healy notes that President Obama’s failure to deliver a more comprehensive liberal agenda led him to embrace Teddy Roosevelt’s “New Nationalism.” In condemning Obama’s push to aggrandize his power, Healy incorrectly remarks that Roosevelt issued “more executive orders than any president before or since.”
Although this portrayal accurately describesaRoosevelt, it was Democrat President Franklin Roosevelt — not Republican Teddy Roosevelt — who was responsible for more than 25 percent of all executive orders in American history.
Nevertheless, Obama could have invoked Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy or a plethora of other presidents from both parties to rally his base in the false hope that somehow the next four years will be drastically different than his first four.
Sean Rosenthal
Montgomeryville, Penn.
Adult English classes benefit entire community
Adults in Alexandria have the same right to an education as the city’s children. Adult classes have helped hundreds of adults learn to read and write in English. With these skills, they have been able to get their GEDs and obtain better jobs.
I’ve grown up in Alexandria and went to school here. As a child, the subject I struggled most with was English. I always wished my parents could help me more.
My mother is currently a student in the Adult ESL classes at Ramsey Elementary School. With the knowledge she’s obtained from these classes, she’s now able to easily hold a conversation in English.
Alexandria’s Adult Education classes provide adults with the skills they need to achieve their dreams and become active members of the community. Please help save them.
Rowshan Zabi
Alexandria
