School Board member can make up for wasted time
Letters to the EditorPublished November 28, 2004
Re: Put Wiggins in line to be next chairman, Nov. 16 Times editorial:
Editor: I was pleased to see the Times call out the Hernando County School Board in an attempt to separate those who serve on the board merely to pick up a paycheck, and those who serve due to an intrinsic belief they can make our schools better.
There is no room for inert purpose on a School Board that is broadening its responsibilities to take care of the needs of our rapidly burgeoning community. There are several career board members who have served so long that the question arises, given their tenure, that if they haven't come up with adequate solutions, then they must be part of the problem.
Robert Wiggins is in his second four-year term on the board. Hypocritically, Mr. Wiggins ran for the board while his children attended a private school. Private schools need offer no public disclosure of their financing, disciplinary protocol or academic agenda. This is frightening considering the horror stories we hear from other parts of the country where so-called voucher schools have gone bankrupt and disrupted the education of children who were sold the myth that vouchers will improve their academic standings.
Mr. Wiggins has sat on the board as a lethargic member, never pushing an agenda that would pioneer academic innovation in our community. Mr. Wiggins has failed to champion his own conservative educational causes, which he campaigned on in his first term. He merely coat-tailed the creativity of school officials and employees, packaged in a a prosaic mantra, as the platform for his second term.
However, as the youngest member of the board, Mr. Wiggins now has the opportunity to show off some of the dynamism that I am sure he is capable of by grasping the reins of the School Board chairmanship. Mr. Wiggins has the opportunity to revive his laggard board tenure by offering the leadership and principled visions he ensured us he would bring six years ago.
It is high time that Mr. Wiggins and his ilk on the School Board brought more substance in their dealings to benefit teachers, support staff, parents and, most importantly, the students of Hernando County.
-- Jim Webb, Spring Hill
Television needs a lesson in grammar
Editor: It would appear the concentration on computer learning in our educational institutions is beginning to take a toll in one form or another within various areas of instruction. Notably this viewpoint is reflected through improper use of fundamental grammar associated with the medium of television, an important source of societal communication.
A prime example is a misuse of "further" for "farther." The former refers to moreover, or in addition to, or to a greater degree; the latter applies only to distance (feet, yards, miles, etc.). A number of regional TV weather reporters, among other segments of the tube's programming, have a tendency, perhaps inadvertently, to amplify this oversight.
Continuing further, another common error is the misapplication of the references "house" and "home." A house is a building that serves as living quarters for a family. A home represents the social environment formed by a family living together.
In conclusion, the use of a pronoun (a part of speech classification) as subject of a sentence followed by a related pronoun seems to cause considerable frustration and misinterpretation. Among others, these pronouns include everyone, someone, each and somebody, which, as a rule and surprising to many users, are considered singular in number as compared to plural.
Consequently an ensuing corresponding pronoun in the same sentence also should be singular in nature.
For instance: Everyone is wearing her uniform. "Everyone," the subject, is singular and "her," an associated pronoun, also is singular. It is incorrect to say "their uniform" because it is a plural pronoun.
Anyone for English Grammar II?
-- Dario Capacasa, Spring Hill
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