PUBLIC FORUM : SAT CRITICS ARE TRYING TO EVADE PROP. 209.

I was not surprised to read that Ruben Zacarias, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, was in favor of eliminating Scholastic Assessment Test scores as college admissions criteria (``Educators question usefulness of SAT,'' Daily News, Sept. 20).

From the beginning, his agenda has been to pull down the high achievers and push up the goof-offs to form a pool of mediocrity where all a kid has to do is show up at school to be eligible for all previously earned opportunities.

It's ironic that cultural bias is stated as one of the problems with the SAT when children continue to be taught in Spanish and are entrenched in the Latino culture.

It's insulting to children who are considered disadvantaged, yet have the desire and find the way to achieve, to be told that the less motivated will be given equal consideration.

The UC Latino Eligibility Task Force sees the elimination of the SAT as a way to increase the number of Latinos eligible to attend UC campuses. It would be better for them to take a look at today's entering kindergartners.

These children are taught in Spanish, parent-teacher conferences are conducted in Spanish, Latino culture is emphasized, and nothing is being done throughout the elementary school experience to teach these children to fully function as citizens of the United States.

I see this move as a way to get around Proposition 209 and, as such another slap, in the face of citizens of California. Even worse, it is a slap in the face to students of any race, culture or economic standing who set school achievement as a priority in their lives.

- Vicki Van Camp

Sylmar

Illegal immigration 

Carlos Munoz Jr., Viewpoint, Sept. 21, complains that President Clinton's ``militarized'' border and a ``mean-spirited Congress'' are keeping Latinos down on the farm, while everybody else spins through life rich, fat, dumb and happy. Somehow, I was not surprised to also note that he teaches at Berkeley.

What is holding Latinos back is really a never-ending stream of even more recently arrived Latinos, legal and illegal. Legal Latino immigrants and those born here face a constant barrage of new immigrants desperate for work, possessing little education and fewer skills, willing for the sake of survival to undercut those who got here before them.

Our porous borders do nothing to staunch the flood, and liberal notions of ``fairness'' seem to favor only the newest newcomer, completely ignoring yesterday's newcomer, who is trying to play by the rules but needs time to assimilate, to acquire the language, educational and cultural skills that would enable him to achieve the American Dream.

The kindest thing we could do for our existing Latino population would be to enforce immigration laws, discourage further immigration, until our present Latino communities have a chance to realize some economic security, and insist that every school-age child be educated in English.

- Pat Parker

Los Angeles 

Latinos can blame their higher unemployment and poverty rates, and the drop in their median income on the flood of mostly unskilled and uneducated Latino illegal aliens who come here, take jobs and work for less than the minimum wage.

They have long been taking entry-level jobs that Americans of all ethnic backgrounds used to hold.

Latino and other immigrants who think they're being ``victimized'' by our laws should remember why they left their native countries in the first place. At least here there's an opportunity to get ahead if you get an education, learn our language, work hard, assimilate and become a citizen.

- Carol Keeler 

Sylmar

Birth control needed

I was profoundly saddened by a letter in Public Forum Sept. 15 by Cherese Marlow. She wrote about unselfish love with regard to families having children and not using birth control.

Mother Teresa was a wonderful and caring religious icon. She was also wrong to tell the Indian people not to use contraception and to continue to procreate in spite of the fact that the population explosion in India has significantly contributed to disease, poverty, and a lack of food and drinkable water.

The church is wrong about contraception. Marlow and others who, under the guise of religion, share her view are either ignorant to the reality of what is going on, or they are so caring that they will take several of these children out of their misery and into their own home to care for them.

- Jacquelyn Ross-Jenkins

Woodland Hills

The responses in Public Forum Sept. 18 to my Sept. 11 letter condemning Mother Teresa was predictable. Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think. I got several good laughs.

Joyce Flynn says I'm narrow-minded for blaming all the world's troubles on overpopulation. The world's population has tripled from under 2 billion to just less than 6 billion in Mother Teresa's lifetime. Look up at the black sky, out at the brown ocean and around at our troubles.

Les Wombacher condemns me for tarring Mother Teresa with the faults of the Roman Catholic Church. He compares her relationship to the church with Clinton to the Democrats or Hitler to Germans. Sorry Les, if you run with a gang you are condemned with the gang.

Sean Benison accuses me of ``profound ignorance and chilling disrespect for human life.'' Here are some figures: The population density of India is 733 per square mile, compared to 72 per square mile in the United States. The population-doubling time in India is 37 years. That means that just to maintain the pain, suffering and squalor, India must in the next 37 years produce two Mother Teresas, twice as much food, clean water, hospital beds, jobs, roads, trucks, etc.

- Woodrow J. Hughes

Northridge

Widening the trade gap

Surprise: The trade deficit with Japan and China widens and what do we do? Like a bunch of idiots we keep on buying foreign products widening and widening the gap until we all fall in and vanish, leaving future generations to wonder about the downfall of the United States.

And if you think that the deficit with China is bad now, just wait and see what is going to happen once China starts to export cars and high-fidelity TV sets.

- Dante F. Rochetti

West Hills

Political correctness 

I want to air my frustration at how ``politically correct'' we seem to have to be these days lest we offend someone.

I fail to see anything negative or derogatory in the word Braves - quite the opposite. Many Birmingham High School students have said the same. They were proud to be Braves. Yet, some American Indians consider it to be ``dishonorable'' and ``disrespectful.''

Recently, there was talk of rerunning ``Amos & Andy.'' Immediately, the outcry was that if we enjoyed that show we must surely be racist. ``Sanford & Son'' was another very good show. And remember ``Chico & the Man?''

How are the whites in very popular shows such as ``Hee Haw,'' ``I Love Lucy,'' ``Roseanne'' and ``Andy of Mayberry'' depicted? Many are portrayed as far from ``highly intelligent'' or ``classy'' and yet, they certainly seem to be enjoyed by all.

C'mon people, lighten up.

- Terri Andrews

Castaic

Picking on Social Security

It looks like once again Congress is picking on the cost-of-living adjustments we are due on Social Security annually.

Considering everything we older Americans have done for our country, it is almost unbelievable that Congress would target Social Security and Medicare as a primary way of reducing the deficit. But that's exactly the way it appears. Please consider the following points:

The deficit didn't just arrive last year. It was created over a period of many years by a succession of presidents and members of Congress who spent more than our nation could afford. They spent our money on their projects - on highway construction, on new government agencies, on foreign aid, on themselves and on who-knows-what. It was this kind of spending that created the deficit.

Social Security is self-contained and self-funded. Every penny of Social Security comes from FICA deductions taken from the paychecks of working Americans and employers contributions.

Our benefits were paid for and earned. This is hugely different from the kind of programs Congress has created by the score that hand out money: food stamps, housing, education, job training, drug rehabilitation, etc. Social Security and Medicare are not in the same category. They were earned.

We all know we need to balance the budget. We all understand Medicare is near bankruptcy and something must be done to save it. But it appears that Congress and the president are refusing to take serious and fair steps to avoid a coming crisis.

- Timothy F. and Sarita J. Martin

Simi Valley

HIV epidemic `growing'

Being Alive - People with HIV/AIDS Action Coalition, Southern California's largest organization by and for people with HIV and AIDS, is shocked and dismayed by recent headlines in the Daily News that the AIDS crisis is over.

Statements that ``AIDS as we knew it is over'' made by Dr. Peter Kerndt of Los Angeles County Department of Health Services are extremely irresponsible, inaccurate and insensitive. The public needs to know that the HIV epidemic is growing, that treatments are not effective for many, that until there is a cure or vaccine, the AIDS epidemic is not over.

By any definition, the thousands of L.A. County residents newly diagnosed with AIDS in 1997, while greatly reduced, constitute an epidemic. Further the rate of new HIV infections appear to be rising, which can only lead to the conclusion that the HIV epidemic is growing and nowhere near over.

- Charles B. Price

Executive director

Being Alive

Los Angeles