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Community Forum on Job Shadowing in
St. Paul High Schools May 17 - 28
http://www.stpauljobshadow.org
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Everyone:
I forward a message to me that responds to Senator DIck Day's comments. I
compliment Senator Day's mother for aptly choosing his name.
Pamela Ellison
Como Park
Saint Paul
May 20, 2004
Senator Dick Day
147 State Office Building
St Paul, MN 55155
Dear Senator Day:
I take offense at your comment that 3We all know the Minneapolis and St
Paul schools, and they suck.2 Not only is it a rude colloquialism, it is
also an insult to those of us who are the educational leaders in those
cities.
We are daily about the business of producing an informed electorate. We
are dedicated to teaching students to become critical, analytical thinkers
and to understand the complexity of complex issues. We are teaching our
young people to move beyond the visceral lure of sound bites and to
research issues to have informed opinions.
We are also about the business of raising the level of discourse from the
ineloquent to a more urbane level. We teach students the power of words
and caution them that listeners will draw conclusions about them based on
their vocabulary. We work to equip our students with the knowledge that
the lingua franca of the street is best suited to the street and not to
polite conversation.
Your comment may likely serve as a classroom model of what an
undereducated, unsophisticated person might say and not the comment of a
statesman. We trust that our current and future voters will make
educated, informed decisions about what manner of politicians they want
representing our state.
You have done damage to our reputations and spoken ill of our
accomplishments. More importantly, you have insulted every student and
family in our cities.
Sincerely,
Peter Christensen
President
St Paul Principals1 Association
------ End of Forwarded Message
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