Post-Gazette Letter to Editor from Mark Rauterkus rips John Craig's about schools and youth violence

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The grade is in for John Craig Jr.’s column: A big, fat zero

 

Regarding John G. Craig Jr.’s Jan. 30 column, “Zero in on Specifics” about a forum

he attended on the media, gangs and youth violence. John, before you read my suggestions, you might want to get a copy of your column and read it aloud. Then try to put your thoughts into an outline.

You ask if we – “regardless of race, creed or national origin” – can agree on something.

Well, I can’t easily agree with you because your communication skills are foggy and your

lack of logic makes for confusing statements.

 

You talk about the need for “calm and peaceful” schools. I don’t want “calm and

peaceful” schools. Knowledge enrichment can be brutal. and it can’t be achieved in an

environment riddled with compromises.

 

Let’s not make nice. There is a war in our midst. We are either winning or losing, and I

contend that if we make an easy peace today and allow gangs’ existence, we are losing.

 

The “keystones” of your “new policy” to combat the problems of youth violence are

useless. “A sense of proportion”? A tiny bit of poison can kill. Informed choices are what’s

needed. “A sense of responsibility”? To me, it’s irresponsible to come down hard on

parents, like those of the Carrick girls’ basketball team, who were looking out for their

children. “A sense of reality”? Refer back to proportion. “A sense of fairness”? Agreed. But

Why should “getting tough” on crime cost money?

Here is an old idea. You have an institution at your disposal called the Post-Gazette. Why

not use it to effectively communicate clearly thought-out, well-written ideas and solutions?

 

Don’t use up space in your paper with some gibberish that in reality is only meant to say

that the Post-Gazette is fair and responsible.

 

John, please get a critical proofreader and a specific sense of a logic in your writings.

Your column gets a zero in rhetoric by my standards.

MARK RAUTERKUS

South Side