LETTERS
LETTERS to the Editor Wild Inaccuracies Mike Ervin, in his sidebar to Kathi Wolfe's essay ("Bashing the Disabled," November issue), attacks the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and a...
...In the tenth grade, students with blue- or white-collar goals entered programs with part-time, on-the-job apprenticeship, while others prepared for entry into technical school or college...
...Lauderdale, Florida Rejecting the Poor Thanks for the two excellent articles, "Crackdown on Kids" (February issue...
...It makes more sense to raise the public debt in order to invest in our children and grandchildren than to continue our grotesque investment in war-making...
...Recently, I joined the Socialist Party, and I'm casting mv Presidential vote for Mary Cal Hollis...
...In 19%, third parties from the left and the right will affect the election and send a message to the business-as-usual people in Washington...
...Back in 1992 I thought that Bill Clinton's victory would bring us positive change, but it's now obvious that President Clinton would rather be a Republican...
...The number should be small, because our palliative care (e.g., hospice) should be so accessible and effective that few people will choose hastened death...
...Right...
...Obviously Ervin has not spoken with any representative of any of these groups to discover what, in fact, their positions are...
...Of course, we regularlv encounter individuals who scoff at our efforts and tell us that we are wasting our time...
...I have also seen those red and white UAW campaign buttons which read, if Clinton SUCCEEDS, WE all SUCCEED...
...Vocational exploration and counseling began with the student and a parent in the ninth grade...
...The culture demonstrated its commitment to help youth choose a goal, prepare to reach it, and as needed provide the desired job at the end...
...Perhaps we will get a couple of Socialists like Bernie Sanders elected...
...A stay in Western Europe in 1985 opened my eyes to a culture that clearly demonstrated genuine caring for its children and youth...
...Give us some credit...
...The AFT has called for standards of behavior and achievement that would allow all students, disabled and non-disabled, to achieve to their highest potential...
...People don't want to die...
...Back in the seventies when I was a psychologist-vocational counselor for the Los Angeles Unified School District's advisement service, I had occasion to witness our culture depriving poor youth of quality health care, child care, education, and job training...
...Clinton's top campaign official failed to mention all the reasons for counting on the votes of the union people...
...However, the dual standard that has resulted from tight restrictions on removing disruptive disabled students from classrooms has created untenable situations in many classrooms around the country...
...Democrats beware...
...Stay at home on election day—or vote for "No Choice" Clinton...
...Where the behavior of any student stands in the way of the education of others, the AFT has stated that such students should be removed to alternative settings where their individual needs can best be addressed, and so that the other students can move on with their education...
...When Democrats start acting like Republicans, it is time for me to leave the party...
...Wise court decisions and sound legislation should protect the right of the dying to a good death, and the right of the handicapped to a good life...
...There, high-quality health care, child care, education, job training, and finally entry jobs were the tax-paid human rights and entitlements of all the nation's children and youth...
...I am also president of the Hemlock Society of Florida...
...j January issue) quotes a "top Clinton campaign official" as saying, "Union people may be angry as hell at us, but if it's down to Clinton versus Dole, what choice do they have...
...In Switzerland, maximum classroom size was limited to fifteen...
...The kicker was your ad in The New York Times with the headline A Typical Story that told of an emotionally disabled kid whose monstrous classroom behavior made life miserable for all around him...
...It seems that instead of standing up against Newt and his cronies, Clinton coddles and kisses up to the Republicans...
...Everyone suffers when a student is allowed to call out, run around the room, throw desks, threaten other students, stab students with pencils or other objects, assault the teacher, sexually harass and intimidate classmates, or any of the hundreds of antisocial behaviors that we experience every day in our classrooms—from students with disabilities as well as students without disabilities...
...North Carolina lohn Nichols ("Off the Bus...
...We've learned a hard lesson Gi\en a wider choice, we are not likeh to repeat our mistake^ Muncllen Lake Btxket, Mdss^hu^tn Amore appropriate title for John Nichols's article would be "How Clinton Will Remain in the Driver's Seat— After Ditching Blue-Collar Democrats...
...Mary Bennett Hudson Ft...
...Clinton will have a second term to expand NAFTA and put the finishing touches on George Bush's "New World Order...
...The AFT has invested heavily in identifying models of good alternative schools and providing professional development for classroom staff...
...Of course I'm delighted over the prospect of Ralph Nader's bid for the Presidency ("California Dreamin...
...Americans can separate annihilation from compassion...
...I have found my own solution by joining a group of volunteers with the Jerrv Brown/Ralph Nader"l996 Presidential draft movement...
...We overlook the dimension of caring...
...I am a Registered Nurse, certified in hospice care, who spent seven years of my practice in hospice nursing...
...Nicholas V. Seidita Northridge, California Throw 'em Out A il my life I've been a loyal /Vnember of the Democratic Party...
...The conditions created by this expectation infringe on the rights of students who do not exhibit such behavior...
...We want safe and orderly classrooms where students can learn, free from intimidation and harassment...
...if community and country provide the child care, the health care, the development-promoting recreation, the job training, and finally the jobs for impoverished youth...
...Those disabled students who are disruptive have come to expect that their behavior will go unpunished...
...The alternative is continued destruction of our children and youth, our families, the community, and the nation...
...The disruptive students, contrary to Ervin's characterization, will not be kicked out into the street, but instead will receive an education...
...AFT has been square in the middle of recent attempts to weaken this standard and dilute IDEA in other ways...
...There's a good reason for it...
...Kathi Wolfe (Book Review, March issue) is concerned that the movement to legalize the option of a decent death will make it easier for some future American Hitler to condemn the handicapped to a death they do not want...
...1995), The Milwaukee Labor Press reported that "President Clinton gave one of his best speeches ever" and that, as Clinton left the hall, the convention delegates chanted "Four More Years, Four More Years...
...It excites me that we have groups such as the Green Parly, the New Party, and the Socialists...
...Albert Shanker President American Federation of Teachers Washington, D.C...
...We must now extend our understanding of medical care to include providing a gentle death to those terminally ill, mentally competent patients who choose it...
...Beverly Derouin Milwaukee, Wisconsin The editors welcome correspondence from readers on all topics, hut prefer to publish letters that comment directly on material pre-viouslv published in The Progressive...
...After the AFL-CIO's National Convention (held in New York on October 25...
...if schools have the necessary funding...
...All letters may be edited for clarity and conciseness...
...We are strictly a group of unpaid, citizen volunteers with absolutely no funding...
...With more empty promises plus that very important UAW Internationa] Union endorsement...
...Mike Ervin A Good Death Americans tend to look at aid in dying legalistically, in terms of the right to die, the right to a physician's aid to die, the right to privacy, and the crime of killing...
...The AFT recognizes that disabled students do not account for all incidents of danger and disruption and that, indeed, most disabled students are not responsible for any such incidents...
...The Clinton folk don't learn their lessons very well...
...March issue...
...This can happen only when the rights of all students are protected...
...they only want not to suffer...
...The author replies: When kids with disabilities have friends like you, who needs enemies...
...Disaffected Democrats and other liberals had the same alternative then as they have now...
...It's to separate the real claim from the frivolous and to eliminate easy excuses...
...Mehvin Little Selma...
...Medical care is a continuum, ranging from prevention, through treatment, to palliation (easing symptoms...
...In AFT's attempt to defend an indefensible position, you resorted to the most fundamental bigotry—presenting the "typical" result of educational inclusion of kids with disabilities as disruptive and chaotic...
...Thank God there's a lot of activity on the independent left...
...Democrats really aren't representing us anymore...
...LETTERS to the Editor Wild Inaccuracies Mike Ervin, in his sidebar to Kathi Wolfe's essay ("Bashing the Disabled," November issue), attacks the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and a coalition of education organizations for '"lobbying for an amendment that would allow school districts to kick out any disabled kid who is disruptive in any way, accomplishing AFT's goal of making it easy for schools to disregard kids who are too expensive or too difficult to serve...
...the Socialist Party candidate...
...You have a strange way of showing your benevolent concern for disabled kids...
...The wheel has already been invented in democracies where short-term, maximum-profit corporations do not dominate public policy...
...In the 1994 election the White House based its battle plan (or lack thereof) on the same erroneous premise...
...Yes, the law does require school districts to meet a higher burden of justification in order to dismiss or transfer kids protected by IDEA...
...They stayed home on election day...
...AFT launched a propaganda campaign against IDEA...
...I will start wearing one when I own General Motors or Exxon Oil...
...In a nutshell, throw Clinton out of the White House, and throw the GOP out of Congress...
...Campaign organizers for Clinton need to keep in mind the possibility of a third or even a fourth party...
...But in all fairness, we could ask these people...
...ErvhVs characterization of our positions and goals is wildly inaccurate...
...What's vour solution...
...In Denmark, illiteracy, drop-outs, unwed teen mothers, gangs, youth crime, violence, and unemployment were rare...
...The mission of the right-to-die movement is to empower the dying patient, not to victimize the patient, or any other person...
...Of course, poverty is not the major cause of juvenile crime if parents have a job and freedom from breakup, alcoholism, and drug addiction...
Vol. 60 • April 1996 • No. 4
