Letter: Teacher challenges columnist's premise

In response to Thomas Sowell’s Oct. 7 column, “Children fritter away their time”: Anyone who could write or believe such nonsense must not have spent much time in a classroom in a long time.

He opens by complaining about videos of children “singing songs of praise for Barack Obama.”

He claims that “too many ‘educators’ see teaching … as an opportunity … to indoctrinate a captive audience. …”

He bases his conclusions on one letter he received from a fifth-grader who, assigned to ask a famous person a question, unfortunately chose Mr. Sowell.

As a local teacher, I can tell you that most of us are too busy trying to help our students master the standards and pass the associated tests for much frivolity.

Those who incorporate such tasks as letter writing (addressed in California English/Language Arts Standards at grades 3, 5, 6, 9 and 10) could reasonably have legitimate educational goals in mind.

I suspect what really bothers Mr. Sowell, a longtime mouthpiece for the far right, is the sight of anyone praising President Obama.

And, as he has often expressed disdain for public education, we present a convenient target for his frustration.

However, even for Mr. Sowell, this particular editorial is long on rhetoric and short on substance.

James Carpenter

Olivehurst