School Bells

To the Editors:

The current groundswell of interest in education that you describe in "The Bold Quest for Quality" [Oct. 10] rises from ordinary citizens, not teachers, administrators or politicians. Even those who do not have children are interested in better schools. Now that the movement has started, let's not allow it to die.

Claude M. Hill North Augusta, S.C.

The adversary attitude among teachers, superintendents, school boards and parents is so intense that they have forgotten their main responsibility, which is to educate children. Unfortunately, these groups are more interested in holding on to their power and authority.

Rita C. Donnelly Pittsburgh

So we are getting back to basics. What that really means is back to anachronistic courses, tired ideologies and intimidating teaching methods.

Laurie A. Burke Ogden, Utah

When I returned this fall to my teaching job, I was dismayed to find that my duties would now include several additional hours of clerical chores because our office staff had been cut, as well as new responsibilities for windows, chalkboards and wastebaskets because our custodial department had also been trimmed. Even worse, my paycheck is $52 less than last year's because of the increased cost of medical coverage. The millennium for public-school teachers may be on its way, but it is not here yet.

Donald Spear San Diego

Since the education level of our nation is so low, who is going to teach us how to improve it?

Dean McReynolds Kansas City

Now that our much maligned teachers have the public's attention, let's give them the dollars they deserve.

Robert G. Oana, Dean

School of Education

University of Evansville

Evansville, Ind.

I am glad that schools are getting better and that people really care whether a 15-year-old like me is learning. I am staying at home now because my teachers are on strike. Oh well, it is the thought that counts.

Scott Telek Plymouth, Mich.

As a senior at Mount Lebanon High School in Pittsburgh, I can attest to the fact that students are also concerned about the quality of the education they are receiving. At our school, we organized the Student Peer Assistance Program to promote better academic achievement. We give awards and offer counseling and advice on college. Although students cannot change the curriculum or improve the quality of their teachers, they can at least influence young people. We students play an important role in the quest for quality education.

Edward Janairo Pittsburgh

The public schools could be improved if discipline were handled by administrators and not teachers. Teachers should be able to devote their time, energy and skills to teaching, not to keeping order in the classroom.

Phyllis H, Witcher Chadds Ford, Pa.

Reaching 60

Your special 60th anniversary issue has conquered time in more ways than its title. Because of your masterly journalistic effort, I am certain that H.G. Wells will be the recipient of the 1984 Nobel Prize for Literature, and, moreover, he will be on hand to accept it.

John W. Young, Publisher

Suburban News

Shelton, Conn.

Some of the stories in your anniversary issue surprised me. I had forgotten that these events had occurred: for instance, the assassination of Mohandas Gandhi. I was also shocked to realize that only in the past 20 years have the American blacks received their civil rights.

Wendell F. Johnson Delaware, Ohio

A dynamite issue. But your 1937 writing style made my head spin, especially when you said, "Hemingway's novel propels him back into the forefront of American writers."

Jeb Ladouceur Smithtown, N. Y.

You did not mention the special V-mail issues that were printed for overseas customers during World War II. I taped one to a bomb we dropped on Tokyo.

Jim Riffle Warren, Ohio

I raced through 54 of the past 60 years. It was good to reflect on the events that I remember and to marvel at the number that I missed along the way.

Adelbert M. Jakeman Jr. Ocean Park, Me.

Your entire 60th anniversary issue is a masterpiece of condensation and analysis, but the Essay "What Really Mattered" is especially poignant and thoughtprovoking. One sentence in particular tells it all: "In the realm of politics, had the world been inspired by the idea of justice rather than freedom, it might look a good deal healthier."

Indeed, freedom, for all its preciousness and sublime connotations, is often a dubious blessing, if not an outright curse. The Bible celebrates freedom with the liberation of the Israelite slaves. But it also emphatically teaches that for man to survive, law and the administration of justice must be placed above freedom.

Elijah J. Schochet, Rabbi

Congregation Beth Kodesh

Canoga Park, Calif.

I hope some day, somewhere, a grandchild of mine will read about and treasure "Grandma's years." No doubt another 60 years will bring their share of the good, the bad and the miraculous, which might even include hosiery that will not run.

Julia Nave Deaton Yazoo City, Miss.

Early Returns

In your article on the current crop of Democratic candidates [Oct. 10], you point out that most voters have yet to make up their minds. There is good reason for this: the candidates are not addressing the issues but are running as personalities. As long as this situation prevails, voters are not going to be able to make an intelligent choice.

Carl Johnson Los Angeles

Saying Sorry

Your Essay "On Apologies, Authentic and Otherwise" [Oct. 10] makes me want to ask Yuri Andropov: Suppose it could be proved to your satisfaction that KAL 007 was not on a spy mission, would you then offer an apology?

Richard Royal Stow, Mass.

To your list of reasons why the Soviets did not apologize for shooting down the Korean jetliner, you should have added one more. No one confesses his mistakes to someone who has self-righteously condemned him as the "focus of evil," which is what President Reagan called the U.S.S.R. Making our fellow men appear worse than they are is bearing false witness. Let's begin the forgiving process ourselves, and such tragedies may be not only redeemed but also prevented.

Harold Gordon Porter Cincinnati

Why has the Soviet Union not shown regret for shooting down the passenger plane? That nation has been intimidating the world since 1918. As everyone knows, when you intimidate you do not apologize.

Don Sharp Monrovia, Calif.

Skinner Alive

TIME has long laughed at, misrepresented and selectively ignored the important writings of B.F. Skinner. Your report [Oct. 10] on his latest book is an example of your bias. Skinner is one of the few psychologists who know what it means to approach scientifically the things people do and the reasons why they do them. If Skinner does not eventually surpass

Freud as the dominant influence in psychology, it will be unfortunate and will prove that humans are more stupid than Skinner and I think they are.

Thomas F. McGinty Hilton Head, S.C.

Skinner's theory concerning the role the environment plays in shaping our behavior is as important to psychology as Darwin's thesis of natural selection is to biology. Skinner has shown that all concepts, no matter how lofty, and all feelings, no matter how deeply felt, are produced not by internal influences but by external ones, like reward and punishment.

Henry L. Phillips Laplace, La.

Monitor's Helmswoman

Thanks for the article on Katherine Fanning, the newly appointed female editor of the Christian Science Monitor [Oct. 10]. Nevertheless, I was shocked to see you describe the paper as stodgy. It is an inspiring and instructive publication, the best teaching source I know.

Dorothy Woodworth Palo Alto, Calif.

When TIME in its story on the Monitor included me among the "elderly stars" of the newspaper, I could not make up my mind whether I had been flattered or flattened.

Elderly at 68? Horse feathers! My father may have become slightly elderly when he reached 100, but I doubt it. On his 104th birthday (his last), he was up and around and had a phone conversation with President Gerald Ford. My mother may have been elderly at 96, although that spunky lady would never admit it. Otherwise, I thought TIME'S article on the efforts being made to revive the Christian Science Monitor was superb.

Godfrey Sperling Jr.

Senior Washington Columnist

Christian Science Monitor

Washington, D.C.

Deadly Deregulation

The airlines and their unions agree on one thing. Both blame deregulation for their woes [Oct. 10]. After 40 years under the watchful care of the Federal Government, the industry grew corpulent and slothful. A leaner, trimmer operation ought to have been each carrier's objective upon deregulation in 1978. Instead, management expanded its routes, and flight crews ate haute cuisine and bought Winnebagos. One is dumb; the other is dumber. Alan R. Bender Berkeley, Calif. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.