Letter to the Editor: Delighted my articles are being fact checked
Regarding the fact-checker on my Letter ‘Who will read this letter’, I did indeed use the Forbes article. That article referenced the US Dept. of Education (DOE). I also spent hours researching that very claim and found one DOE webpage that had summary and included a graph that showed 52% with a literacy level of 1 and 2 which are the lower levels of reading.
If Forbes got it wrong, I feel that I am in good company. A quote from the article from the Barbara Bush Foundation states, “America’s low literacy crisis is largely ignored, historically underfunded and woefully under-researched, despite being one of the great solvable problems of our time.” I agree that that America’s education statistics are very difficult to pin down. The DOE must do a better job of gathering and reporting of these statistics.
I base my entire life on being truthful and factual 100% of the time. I spend hours thinking about a topic I will write and spend more hours researching the topic. In the case of the GW Bush quote on the Constitution – I heard of this quote many years ago. I did a quick search for the quote and found it on several sites I consider legit. However, because it was pointed out by the fact-checker, I did a more in-depth search something the fact-checker did not even bother to do.
It turns out that it cannot be verified. I have no ego to bruise when it comes to the truth and facts, so I most definitely appreciate being called out on this. This allows me to be a better person. However, it was easy to believe given that GW Bush committed war crimes against Iraq and his gleeful use of torture. Yes this is my and millions of other Americans’ opinion on that subject.
Finally, it’s not that I made this political, rather the GOP made it political. The war on education started under President Reagan. The GOP and their constituents are constantly attacking public education, teachers and their unions, and school boards.
I am delighted that my letters are being fact-checked. That means some people here are starting to seek the truth. If you want a better and stronger America, all Americans must support and fund public education. Property taxes are not the way we should be funding education, rather it must be funded primarily thru federal and state taxes.
Mark Mihevc
Graeagle