Inbox: Apr. 16, 2007

Bring the Good Book to School?

I read with great interest your article about teaching the Bible in public schools because of my own experience [April 2]. As a high school senior taking advanced-placement English, my fellow students and I so struggled to read Herman Hesse's Demian, with its Christian symbolism, that my teacher decided to have us learn about various books of the Bible. High schools should offer classes on world religions. Hoping that students will take comparative religion courses in college leaves too much to chance.

Melissa Rabey

MIDDLETOWN, DEL.

Young adults need to know that help is out there for them, and God, as he as always does, finds a way to get messages to his children. Teach the Bible in public school, but also teach its history and how it is related to everyone everywhere. Teach that the Bible's basic message is to love, serve and be happy with God in this world and the next.

Effie Moore Salem, HUNTINGTON, W.VA.

As an ardent activist atheist, I second David Van Biema's proposal to add the Bible to the curriculum of our public high schools. I do so for the same reason I support teaching English, keyboarding and the U.S. Constitution: each is useful knowledge for informed citizens in a democracy. My only caution: teach all of the Bible. We wouldn't sample bits and pieces of Macbeth, Jane Eyre, 1984 or Catch-22 in a literature class; we would expect students to read an entire work. Just so with the Bible. My enthusiasm for this proposal is not entirely selfless. I subscribe to the position espoused by the great Isaac Asimov: "Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived."

Richard S. Russell

MADISON, WIS.

Great article, great idea. Teaching about the Bible might help exorcise some of the ignorance of the Fundamentalist right. Anti-Catholics would learn that it was Catholic bishops who put the New Testament together. Anti-gays would learn that Jesus had nothing to say about homosexuality. And those who want the U.S. to be a nation governed by Christian laws would learn that our enemies are to be loved, not smashed, and that divorce is tantamount to adultery. No divorce, no war, no gay bashing, no anti-Catholicism--how downright un-American!

C. Gregory Jones, CHICAGO

Before we teach the Christian Bible to high school students, we should consider the effect on students who hold different faiths or no faith at all. I am not a Christian, so I know firsthand the exclusion that follows from not being like everyone else. Schools should focus first on teaching the rules of logic. Perhaps then a variety of religions could be taught without fear that a minority of students would be abused by fellow students and teachers.

April Woods, ROANOKE, VA.

Rather than offering a course exclusively on the Bible, it might be more constructive to offer a survey course on the major faiths: Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism. Particularly at this time, a little knowledge of Islam would be most helpful to Americans.

Louis H. Schmid, OCEANSIDE, CALIF.

Were you being ironic in advocating the teaching of the Bible in public schools? In the same issue you outlined the savage violence perpetrated by the religiously driven Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Keith Krueger, RACINE, WIS.

Rudy's Run

The article "Why Is Rudy Smiling?" [April 2] neglected the key element in Rudy Giuliani's rise in the polls over the past few months: his reversals on abortion, which have made him acceptable to many pro-life Republicans. Prior to the campaign, he opposed a ban on partial-birth abortion (which he now favors) and considered the Roe v. Wade ruling "good constitutional law" (he now promises to appoint strict constructionists--code for overturning Roe). While still nominally pro-choice, he has positioned himself as effectively pro-life.

Philip Landersen, NEW YORK CITY

Reading, Writing and Ranking

College presidents are disingenuous when they maintain that failure to participate in the U.S. News & World Report survey would put them at a disadvantage in recruiting the best students [April 2]. They could effectively circumvent the ratings list by agreeing to measure only what students have actually learned during the school year. But this would require the use of assessment tools that run the risk of exposing their frequently unwarranted educational claims.

Walt Gardner, LOS ANGELES

The rankings revolt will fail without public support, not because such endeavors aren't virtuous but because the majority of Americans are getting what they want from higher education, at a price most are willing to pay. That education as commerce has led to such marketing aberrations as college rankings, grade inflation and other competitive amenities shouldn't be a surprise to anyone familiar with Pogo's dictum, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."

Brian Manhire, HOBE SOUND, FLA.

Bullies Get the Boot

I was surprised by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen's "No Jerks Allowed" [April 2]. Cullen said "beastly bosses have shaved months off my life" and then defended them as being "some of the most gifted people I've known," as if that excuses their behavior. It is people like Cullen who create an atmosphere of acceptance for these cretins. Give me an office full of smiley faces anytime.

Suzy Stephens, HAMPTON COVE, ALA.

Smart, challenging, engaged, even-tempered and fair leaders raise the bar for employees a lot higher than do mean bosses. What is harder than treating people kindly? Being an evenhanded manager is definitely not a job for wimps; the faint of heart need not apply.

Mary G. Sims, UNION, N.J.

Was the casual, repeated use of the word a__hole--spelled out in full--really necessary? Thousands of old-fashioned parents have a bar of soap waiting with Cullen's name on it.

Rob Reynolds, SEATTLE

Beastly bosses don't reach the top because they're more gifted than the rest of us. They do so because they're more adept at practicing cutthroat office politics. I hope that Robert Sutton, author of The No Asshole Rule, is right. I would love to see corporate America purge itself of the "bullies, louts and misanthropes" who make millions of workers' lives a living hell. Of course, I'm not holding my breath.

Rick Ansorge, HOOVER, ALA.

Bono's Call to Action