Readers react to schools, jobs columns
Readers are reacting to two columns on jobs and schools.
The schools column, published June 22, compared the exhilarating experience of visiting a small charter high school versus the worrisome goings-on at a large public institution.
One reader, who works at an office technology company locally, wrote to say she agreed the high school student failure rates are troubling and that the charter high school was on the right track getting parents involved and setting high expectations.
“My husband and I and many of our friends, acquaintances and co-workers agree with you and surely wish the school officials, teachers and decision makers would recognize the truth,” she wrote.
Another reader, a former public official who now teaches at a large public high school, noted that the bigger the institution, the more daunting the challenges because they cannot select students as smaller ones often can.
But, he said, “without greater family involvement we will not fulfill our obligation to provide an excellent education.”
On the Michigan jobs column published June 8, here’s what reader Steven Flores said about the thriving economy of Ann Arbor versus the auto-industry ravaged city of Warren. He say lessons for the North Bay.
“As one who lived in Ann Arbor for five years, I can tell you that your description of the differences between the two places is accurate. As a Bay Area native and resident of Sonoma County, I can only offer you my observations.
“For a new economy, it is essential that an area maintain a bright, educated and affordable work force. It also requires a way to keep new ideas and companies developing here on our soil. This is a lovely place to live, but the economy, job market, and industry are nowhere near as vibrant as they are in Marin, Alameda, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.
“With Silicon Valley and the rest of the Bay Area so close, the area needs a more strategic plan to develop its niche. This has to be more than a wine region and tourist destination for a complete economy to thrive. While Agilent, Medtronic and Kaiser are nice pieces of our business community, fostering a fertile environment for new business, ideas and startups will be crucial to the North Bay’s future.
“While Sonoma State is not the University of Michigan, it does provide Sonoma County with a hub of intellectual capital, research and new ideas. Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., a little more than an hour north of Indianapolis, note the distance, is not Indiana University or Purdue, but it created a niche for itself by developing a recognized Top Ten undergraduate business program in entrepreneurship.
“The North Bay seems to have itself with one foot on the dock and the other on the boat, maybe one foot in Ann Arbor and the other in Warren.”
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