PUBLIC FORUM\Having the last word on educators' gibberish.I read your "More gibberish" editorial on March 17 and decided to take on the challenge of understanding the paragraph from one of the 12 proposed curriculum guidelines for teaching English issued by the National Council of Teachers of English Mission As stated on their official website, the NCTE ( National Council of Teachers of English) is a professional organization dedicated to "improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education. and the International Reading Association. I used Webster's New World Dictionary Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language is an American dictionary first published in 1951 and presently published by John Wiley & Sons. The first edition was published by the World Publishing Company of Cleveland, Ohio in two volumes or one large and Roget's International Thesaurus for translation. The original paragraph, with the translated words in parentheses See parenthesis. parentheses - See left parenthesis, right parenthesis. , follows: "Students apply (use) a wide range (series) of strategies (plans of action) to comprehend (understand), interpret (explain meaning of), evaluate (judge) and appreciate (understand and enjoy) texts (the actual words used by an author). They draw on their prior (earlier) experience (personal knowledge), their interactions (action on each other) with other readers and writers, their knowledge( understanding of facts) of word meaning and of other texts (the actual words used by an author), their word identification (recognition) strategies (plan of action), and their understanding (see clearly) of textual (word-for-word) features (formations) (e.g. sound (tone)-letter (symbol that represents a speech sound) correspondence (similarity), sentence structure (arrangement), context (joining together of words and understanding their exact meaning), graphic (written) )." What they said was: "Students use a series of plans of action to understand, explain the meaning of, judge, understand and enjoy the actual words used by an author. They draw on their earlier personal knowledge, their own actions with readers and writers, their understanding of word meaning and other actual words used by an author, their word identification plan of action, and their clear sight of word-for-word formations (e.g. tone-symbols that represent a speech sound similarity, arrangement, joining together of words and understanding their exact meaning, written." It only took me about an hour to decipher. Now the Daily News and I both know what they said. That's two. - Carole Breyde North Hollywood Controlling sex offenders Kudos to Kathleen Parker Kathleen Parker is a conservative U.S. columnist whose columns frequently focus on family, sex roles, and race. Her column is syndicated nationally by The Washington Post Writers Group. on her column about sex offenders (Opinions, March 21). However, her case is actually much stronger than she made it. She indicates that 67 percent of convicted rapists are repeat offenders. However, in the case of male-male child molesters, the recidivism recidivism: see criminology. rate is something like 98.5 percent. Most psychologists say these pedophiles simply cannot be cured, that there is no such thing as rehabilitation rehabilitation: see physical therapy. for them. In your local police station there is a book crammed full of the "worst-of-the- worst," people who have been convicted three or four times of the ugliest of child-molestation crimes. They have just served their latest short sentence in jail and are now living anonymously in our neighborhoods, ogling our children. The police know who and where they are, and almost certainly that they will molest mo·lest tr.v. mo·lest·ed, mo·lest·ing, mo·lests 1. To disturb, interfere with, or annoy. 2. To subject to unwanted or improper sexual activity. again. The only things the police don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. is which of our children it will be and when. And current law does not allow them to warn us. Psychologists say that a pedophile pedophile Forensic psychiatry A person with pedophilia; there are an estimated 500,000 pedophiles in the world. See Child prostitution, Megan's law, Pedophilia. cannot be considered cured until he admits to himself that this impulse to molest children is beyond his control, that he must have constant supervision for the rest of his life to prevent him from further such acts. Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), worldwide organization dedicated to the treatment of alcoholics; founded 1935 by two alcoholics, one a New York broker, the other an Ohio physician. teaches that the very first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem, recognizing that you simply must stay away from alcohol for the rest of your life For The Rest Of Your Life is a British game show on ITV, hosted by Nicky Campbell. It is produced by Initial, a company of Endemol. Format Round One . It makes a lot of sense, then, to base an effective pedophile law on such well-supported, professional teachings. Such a law could give a multiple child molester the chance to admit his problem and to demonstrate his sincerity by agreeing to constant, effective supervision for the rest of his life, perhaps simply by the community in which he lives. If the molester mo·lest tr.v. mo·lest·ed, mo·lest·ing, mo·lests 1. To disturb, interfere with, or annoy. 2. To subject to unwanted or improper sexual activity. refuses to accept those conditions, he would be demonstrating that he is not rehabilitated. That in turn would justify holding him in prison or a mental institution until he is. Owen W. Dykema West Hills A mistaken connection I felt compelled to respond to Marinella McKee's letter, "Laws without morals," in Public Forum March 15. She draws on an unfounded correlation between legalized abortion and gang violence. Does it follow then that if we suddenly outlawed abortion, gang members would repent re·pent 1 v. re·pent·ed, re·pent·ing, re·pents v.intr. 1. To feel remorse, contrition, or self-reproach for what one has done or failed to do; be contrite. 2. and stop killing each other? No, I really don't think so. Many gang members come from homes where "Dad" left when "Mom" became pregnant. It seems to me that the lack of a male role model, combined with a low-income and a feeling of hopelessness, contribute much more to a gang member's apparent disregard for human life than does abortion, legal or otherwise. That is the conclusion I have drawn after working as a volunteer with delinquent boys for the Los Angeles County Probation Department The Los Angeles County Probation Department provides services for those placed on probation within Los Angeles County, California, USA. Robert Taylor is the current Chief Probation Officer. The department is the largest probation department in the world[1]. . Suzan Allen Encino 'What kind of life?' Regarding "Charen defended" (Public Forum, March 12): Restrictions on abortions do nothing to reduce the need, only the availability. Claiming that abortions deny unborn children a chance at life refuses to take into consideration the question, "What kind of life?" I would like to propose that all of us take up the cause of the "already-born," unwanted, unloved and hoping to stay out of the prison system, and solve that problem first. Perhaps then more women would choose life - if so many children were not already waiting for a "chance at life." Jessica Moore Northridge Pillorying the president Kenneth A. Eaton, responding to my letter to the Public Forum of March 5, mentions (March 13) the nastiness "supposedly" directed at our president. There is nothing "supposedly" about that. I have no quarrel with investigative journalists or with readers who respond with reasoned thoughtful logic. I am sick of people engaged in name calling, referring to the president as Slick Willie Slick Willie is a nickname that can refer to:
Leo Leo, in astronomy Leo [Lat.,=the lion], northern constellation lying S of Ursa Major and on the ecliptic (apparent path of the sun through the heavens) between Cancer and Virgo; it is one of the constellations of the zodiac. de Vogel Tarzana Dole's life expectancy Life Expectancy 1. The age until which a person is expected to live. 2. The remaining number of years an individual is expected to live, based on IRS issued life expectancy tables. Sean O'Heathirn (Public Forum, March 14) cautioned us concerning the importance of the choice of Dole's running mate running mate n. 1. The candidate or nominee for the lesser of two closely associated political offices. 2. A companion. 3. A horse used to set the pace in a race for another horse. , citing Dole's 1923 birth cohort, which had an average life expectancy that would only carry him to Inauguration Day. Everyone in a given birth cohort doesn't die at the average age; the pattern of deaths follows a bell-shaped curve bell-shaped curve n. Variant of bell curve. Noun 1. bell-shaped curve - a symmetrical curve representing the normal distribution Gaussian curve, Gaussian shape, normal curve , some dying earlier, some later than the average. For those born in 1923 who, like Dole, managed to survive the illnesses, accidents, and other calamities that befell the cohort members who died on the early side of the curve, there now is an average chance of living another 14 years, more or less. - Al Barbour Canoga Park Did media treat victims fairly? A quiet argument has existed for some time - whether the media sways people's thinking. Do we always get fair and complete coverage from newspapers, television and radio? Something I read, "Family, friends decry de·cry tr.v. de·cried, de·cry·ing, de·cries 1. To condemn openly. 2. To depreciate (currency, for example) by official proclamation or by rumor. victims' court portrayal," Daily News, March 21, caused me to ponder those questions. The headline suggested that Kitty and Jose Menendez had been misrepresented from the beginning. During the first trial, it was "thought" by most that the Menendez parents were dysfunctional monsters. That was all reported through the media. Now that the brothers, Erik and Lyle Menendez, have been found guilty, it is thought that they are monsters. The article quoted a business associate as saying that Jose Menendez "was a high-level businessman and could be very demanding, but as far as something sick and demented demented - Yet another term of disgust used to describe a program. The connotation in this case is that the program works as designed, but the design is bad. Said, for example, of a program that generates large numbers of meaningless error messages, implying that it is on the brink about him, no." The article continued with a quotation by Kitty Menendez's brother: "She was admired by everyone in the community. She was admired by everyone in the family." Those two quotations paint a totally different picture than I recall seeing in the past. Yet these people who have such positive feelings for Jose and Kitty Menendez must have felt this way and voiced their thoughts at some time during the first trial. Is it that popular beliefs sway reporting? Does reporting sway popular beliefs? Do either or both sway the legal system? No matter which affects what, I think that we all need to be more discriminating and critical when reading, talking about and reacting to events that surround us. - Marilyn Dalrymple Lancaster Taxes, up-front and hidden The existing tax code, all 7 million-plus words, is a Hydra. When the citizens manage to chop off one tax head, two new tax heads appear. After the president and his Democrat comrades in both houses of Congress passed the largest tax bill in our history, the president said they raised taxes too much. But to my knowledge, not a one of them including the president have said they are going to rescind To declare a contract void—of no legal force or binding effect—from its inception and thereby restore the parties to the positions they would have occupied had no contract ever been made. rescind v. it. It is not only the up-front income taxes, but those monstrous hidden taxes known as government regulations that cost businesses and individuals, regardless of economics status, billions of dollars every year. It is time to elect a Congress of Herculeses who are determined and will not falter to do the research and development on a new tax code. Sylvia Kinyoun Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. CAPTION(S): PHOTO Photo Reading lessons Joining words and understanding their exact meaning. Daily News |
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