Letters

Expressions

Since the week of Sept. 15-21 is known as Constitution Week, I feel concerned enough about its proper recognition to offer this timeless and profound quote from Thomas Jefferson, one of our Founding Fathers, in 1731.

“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties ARE of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.”

I thank the editor of this paper for the standing invitation to its readers to send in “expressions of their ideas, concerns and matters of importance.” I find it odd that there are so few responses to that courtesy, and sometimes there are no letters at all. It is a very good newspaper and it offers a fine opportunity to share what’s on one’s mind. It would enhance the general enjoyment and expectation of what we find in our mail boxes every Thursday if more citizens took part.

R. H. Henrickson,

Oakesdale

Round & round

The school year began with announcements of the results of ACT and SAT test scores. Several cities, including Moscow, showed very nice achievement scores. The SAT is comprised of 78 verbal questions and 60 math questions. Students have 150 minutes total time to show the “effects” of one year’s academic efforts.

Students taking the ACT have a total of 215 questions in English, math, reading and scientific reasoning. Students are given a total of 178 minutes to complete the tests.

These tests correlate rather highly. Now enter the Common Core State Standards testing initiative. Yes, this is rehash of the worst.

A 2013 Gallup, PDK poll of public opinion showed that 22 percent of Americans polled believe that testing helps performance. Then 58 percent reject using test scores to evaluate teachers. Finally, 66 percent of the polled group has never heard of the Common Core!

So off we go again throwing our taxpayer dollars to testing companies and not one of these tests provides any “formative feedback” to either the student or the teacher. The test scores are just meaningless numbers. How can a teacher improve instruction if there is no meaningful feedback?

Teachers need to know what concepts are mastered and which are not. My point is that 180 school days are evaluated in just a couple of hours of multiple-choice tests. Haven’t we been here before? “Round and . . ..”

Donald Orlich,

Pullman

Fish counts

The railroads have announced that they can haul grain in 110 car unit trains for less money per ton than barges on the Snake River can transport it. Almost immediately the fish people want to tear out the Snake River Dams.

They say that they want to restore the salmon and steelhead runs to what they used to be. How in the world were they able to count the fish before the dams were in place? There were a lot of fishermen in the Washtucna and Kahlotus areas that fished the Snake River in the Lyons Ferry area. They caught a great variety of fish but not many salmon and steelhead.

There is one thing that is certain: if the dams are removed, electric bills will go up by three to four times as much as the present rate. Also, it is certain that irrigation water will be gone and there are millions of tons of contaminated soil that will be washed downstream with unknown results. Will the smelts be able to live in the water?

We allowed several railroads to remove the tracks that were laid by very inexpensive labor. The cost to replace these dams would be many times more than the original dams cost.

The “Green People” have a lot of money and a loud voice! If you like low rates for your electricity you need to speak up now!

Also, the people who know how to fish are doing very well with the dams in place!

Gerald Ray,

Spokane