Honors colleges are respected by all

In arguing against honors programs ("Do honors colleges weaken general undergraduate education?" Speak Out, February 2001), Professor Crain is wrong to claim that honors colleges produce "resentment and ill-feeling" among ordinary students. As the finest athletes are admired by the non-athletic, so too are honors students respected by non-honors students. I know this to be true because I am continually writing letters of recommendation for students who aspire to join the honors elite themselves.

The university has a special responsibility to the intellectually gifted, not only as a celebration of diversity or to offer appropriate education, but because young intellectuals have no other home to go to for the respect they deserve. Those with kinesthetic intelligence (formerly known as athletic talent) have many fields, gyms and stages where their "intelligences" are recognized. But in anti-intellectual America, the university is the only place intellectuals can hope to acquire some measure of the respect they have spent their young lives earning--against the substantial social opposition of popular culture generally and youth culture in particular, where the intellectual is scorned, ridiculed and ostracized.

--K.J. Walters
Monroe, NY

Where the tax money goes

In his February 2001 "Mailbox" letter, Allan O. Kragh makes it perfectly clear he doesn't like to pay taxes, which is consistent with the Republican Party's ideal: how to avoid paying taxes. However, his issues with Sandra Feldman's Where We Stand column (December 2000/January 2001) are confusing and confused.

…The case against vouchers has been made again and again. In Ohio and Wisconsin where vouchers have been initiated, they have not improved educational standards, have not reduced tax bases and have fostered widespread rip-offs of public funds. It is the children that suffer.

I can agree with Mr. Kragh on the importance of choice to members of our society. That includes choice for a woman to control her body, choice for a person not to believe in an organized creed, the choice to eat and work in a smoke-free environment, and the choice for poor people to have their children educated properly.

I'm amazed at Mr. Kragh's contention about "...school spending...." In the school where I and my wife teach, there's damn little to spend. Schools aren't wasting money. They don't have it to waste!

--Frank P. Araujo
Sacramento, CA

Doing the math on part-timers

Kudos for your recent article in the February 2001 issue regarding the harsh realities and hard lives of part-timers (News & Trends). How true that many are not aware of the trying circumstances, the frustration and the inherent poverty that such status confers upon those of us who are well educated and proficient and who serve as adjunct faculty. As a New York state resident, please allow me to address these inequities for your readers.

At my unit of SUNY, I am compensated approximately $2,100 per course, per term. By union contract, I am not allowed to teach more than nine credit hours per term. Thus, for both fall and spring semesters, total maximum allowed annual compensation would be $12,600. Perhaps the opportunity can arise to teach summer school or an intersession. Add $4,200, for a total of $16,800 for 12 consecutive months of work. Keep in mind that with this income there are no paid holidays, no health or dental insurance, in essence--no fringe benefits. From the meager income delineated above, I annually must spend $1,880 for health insurance.

I think that our union should work harder for those of us who pay our dues and pray for improvement in circumstances.

--Gary E. Krolikowski
Castile, NY
Editor's note: This SUNY unit is covered by a union other than the United University Professions/AFT.