Letters

From the July 1999 issue

Jesse's Big on Government

Jesse Ventura ("'The Body' Politic," April) may be a self-described libertarian, and sometimes his rhetoric is libertarian, but his governing, so far, is not. The teachers union is more than happy with Jesse's proposed budget, which throws more money down the rathole of government education. Minnesota already spends a third of its budget on K-12 education. Jesse states that the proposals to give parents the ability to send their children to private schools are too limited. Therefore, he supports "fixing" government schools instead of offering a choice. The Minnesota Libertarian Party has proposed that all taxpayers, whether they have children or not, be given an education tax credit. This tax credit could be directed to specific students, to a private scholarship program, or to a private or government school. Jesse should embrace this proposal.

Jesse's education views are the most glaring example of his big government slant. He also wholeheartedly supports building a light rail system and statewide land use planning. Jesse, a self-described libertarian? Yes. A libertarian at heart? I don't think so.

Jim Rongstad
Woodbury, MN
[e-mail]

Y2K Possibilities

I read the editorial on Y2K ("Power Fantasies," April) and just loved it! I am a systems analyst/programmer working in a manufacturing environment and have spent the last eight months on Y2K changes. We converted two weeks ago. It was nasty for three days, then everything went back to normal. This is the usual pattern.

I would like to add a comment to the observation, "What Wheatley and Kellner-Rogers glibly dismiss as `the old system' are the lives of millions of people with no particular zeal to `re-create' their culture or communities." Rwanda and Kosovo are having their communities and culture re-created. It is a brutal process and always has been. Anyone who looks upon it with glee is deceived or plain nuts.

Dave Holland
Grand Rapids, MI
[e-mail]

I believe freedom lovers should take advantage of any opportunity that might arise from whatever Y2K-related computer disruptions do occur.

Specifically, it is likely that governments at all levels will be unable to perform various functions; some may even raise taxes to pay for Y2K fixes or contingency plans. We can urge abolition and/or privatization of many of those functions. Should the U.S. military experience multiple problems in weapons systems or in supplying troops overseas, we should argue for downsizing the military and bringing troops home. Y2K is just one more opportunity to declare that freedom is what America is all about.

Carol Moore
Washington, DC
[e-mail]

All A's for Teacher Column

As Thomas W. Hazlett points out ("The Education Precedent," April), the amount of "learning improvements [that] will follow from diminishing the average class size" is "none."

When President Clinton unveiled his proposal to hire 100,000 more teachers, he said "every parent already knows" that education improves when class size shrinks. Yet accumulated evidence demonstrates that reducing class size has less of an effect on educational performance than on generating campaign contributions and political support from the teachers unions.

University of Rochester economist Eric Hanushek, one of the nation's leading education experts, points out that class sizes have already been shrinking for decades at an enormous cost and with no commensurate gains in test scores. Today's national average of 22 kids per classroom is down significantly from the 30-plus averages of the 1950s. In the last 45 years, the teacher-pupil ratio has fallen by 35 percent. The Asian nations that trounce us have vastly larger classes, often 40 or 50 youngsters.

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