Countries still learning from U.S., not other way around
One issue that the major candidates have expressed agreement on is the need to develop and retain as many visiting scholars as possible.
We are told that we need these people to provide initiative, imagination and vitality found wanting in America today.
But who would these spokespeople have us emulate? China is basing its businesses on everything it can learn from the western enterprises who locate there.
Korea proudly produces autos that are the direct result of what it has gained from GM plants located there. The list goes on and on.
Yet, many or our politicians seem to be under the delusion that the United States desperately needs everybody else for continued survival when the case appears to be quite the contrary.
Who isn't tired of the candidates repeatedly pledging their allegiance to a platform that promises every visiting scholar who earns an advanced degree the assurance of employment and residency?
Wouldn't it be far more refreshing to hear just one politician promise that they'd work as hard to see that American scholars secure employment upon graduation?
Robert Goddard
Norwich
Manners seem to be missing
Apparently schools should start teaching manners again, as it is clear that young adults and children are no longer learning this at home.
Last evening, my husband, a stroke survivor of five years, which left him paralyzed on his left side, was entering a store in Oneonta and some children were making fun of the way he was walking with a limp. Their father immediately marched them back to his car with some harsh words; however, the father never apologized for his children's actions, nor did the children. Children often behave poorly around their peers, but their behaving this way in front of their father leads me to believe they have learned this lack of good behavior at home. It seems that parents no longer discipline their children nor teach them any manners, and action needs to be taken immediately in order for our country to maintain a reasonable standard of morality and compassion.
Shouldn't parents be proud of their children's actions instead of embarrassed by them?
Carol A. Howard
Oneonta
