Regents should be included
Is Cooperstown Central School putting its students at risk? On Monday, May 5, school administrators announced to the faculty that they must cease calculating state exam scores (Regents) into their students' averages. They are by no means the first New York state school to embark upon this policy. However, this does not necessarily make this a wise choice.
One cannot help but wonder if this is a deceptive move that will ultimately scar the student body. Obviously, if students and faculty are convinced the scores are meaningless, little effort will be applied to teaching and/or studying the curriculum measured by the exams. So what?
A high percentage of New York state high school students apply to colleges in the SUNY system. Regardless, if the Regents scores are calculated into the students' GPAs, SUNY admissions departments will see and reflect upon these scores. While they are not the primary factor on a resume, each piece of information is scrutinized. As colleges have become more selective, admission counselors extensively search for indicators that suggest an applicant is superior to her/his competition. In some cases, that Regents exam score becomes critical.
Further, applicants to SUNY schools are not the only ones impacted. David Borus, dean of admissions and financial aid at Vassar College (ranked 11th nationally among liberal arts colleges) claims, "the Regents can be very helpful to us as an added piece of information." And he further explained that it is beneficial in determining the "academic credentials."
One cannot help but wonder if Cooperstown is looking out for its students or attempting to minimize the significance of its low county-wide academic standing.
Eric Rheinhardt
Cooperstown
We can't be oil self-sufficient
Mr. William Eckart's letter of May 7 makes some excellent points about oil consumption, marred only by the facts.
It's impossible for us to be self-sufficient in oil.
According to the U.S. Government's Energy Information Administration, U.S. crude oil production is 5.1 million barrels per day. Consumption is 20.7 million barrels per day. There are no proven, untapped petroleum reserves within the United States that can produce 15 million barrels of oil per day _ total proven reserves total 21 billion barrels, or only a 12 years' supply at current levels of use.
We import about 10 million barrels of oil per day and burn 9.2 million barrels of gasoline per day. That's an area we can do something about.
As for putting ..."our energy destiny in the hands of other nations, which have their own agendas": Our principal oil supplier is Canada _ a reliable ally since the War of 1812.
Even if Al Gore is completely wrong about global warming, I just don't see how using less oil is contrary to our national interests.
Anyone interested in these statistics can find them on the Internet at http://www.eia.doe.gov/neic/quickfacts/quickoil.html, or at Wikipedia.com.
Andrew Reinbach
Burlington Flats
Photographer touches soul
Julie Lewis touches the inner soul and indeed is an artist. Every image that she produces, such as in stark winters with turkeys looking for food, she makes a statement of love and hope.
How time passes! In the disaster in 2006, she revealed beauty and struggle. Continue with your search and assignments.
She reaches the old and the young, treats poverty with dignity like a true artist. Her black-and-white photo images are really sublime.
Thank you, Julie Lewis.
Carla S. Burchett
Unadilla
Game doesn't deserve criticism
I am tired of "Grand Theft Auto IV" getting a bad rap. The mayor of New York said, "I will not support a game that gives you points for killing police." If he actually played the game, he would find out you don't get points for killing police, you get chased and arrested or killed yourself.
One GTA that you get justice for killing police is "GTA: San Andreas," and that's because the police that are voiced by Samuel L. Jackson and Chris Penn are dirty cops, making the character CJ steal and kill people for their gain, which happens in real life. There are dirty cops around. People use GTA as a scapegoat for the problems in the world. Back in Roman times, they were more violent then people are today, having people fight in arenas to the death. They didn't have video games back then, so why do we use video games as a scapegoat today?
Who's to blame? The parents, children and teens that are 17 or younger can't buy M-rated games unless they're with a parent. The parents should pay more attention to what their children want to buy.
Justin Waro
Cooperstown
Beware of scams after checks
Many people will be getting checks from the government in the next few weeks or months. I am glad we are getting some financial help from the government, so I'm not going to complain.
I am not a policeman nor am I even in law enforcement. But be advised, there will be plenty of scammers and rip-off artists trying to pry and trick us out of our money.
It is unfortunate that people will do anything to make a buck, whether it is legal or not.
I have nothing against people being wealthy or making an honest living. However, I do get disgusted when somebody with no conscience preys on the elderly or mentally disabled people to fill their pockets with money.
The old saying applies here, "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."
Robert A. Caffee
Bainbridge
County workers also taxpayers
In the May 7 article, "Meeting upsets union," James Powers said that he hopes the county and CSEA "can negotiate an agreement that is fair to the workers and fair to the taxpayers."
What Mr. Powers forgot is that the workers are the taxpayers, too.
David Kucera
Burlington Flats
Print this story
E-mail this story
