Dear Editor:

OK, I am the first to admit that political correctness is not necessarily part of my repertoire (OK, you may read on once you've stopped laughing).

I believe, however, that I limited previous comments to those issues considered truly important to the citizens. The subject of sports mascots may not fall under the category of important issues, but just can't pass on an opportunity to speak out about how I believe political correctness has turned us into a society of twits.

The case I cite is the controversy over a Utah high school voting to use the name "Cougars" as its sports mascot. Sounded good to me. What better place than the Mountain West to use that as a sports mascot? Well, not really, it seems, as the vote was later vetoed by the school board. Why? Because the term cougar is considered "...too offensive toward women..."

Offensive toward women? Really? Hey, forget about the controversies over the Redskins, Ole Miss' Colonel Rebel, the Fighting Sioux of North Dakota, and those "hostile" feathers that once adorned William & Mary helmets.

Editor:

So? A lot of parents today are too stupid to have children! When I was young and foolish I bought into the Population Control movement's notion that the government should issue permits before allowing folks to even have children, let alone direct their intellectual and moral formation. Actually, my thought didn't even go that far as I had always hated schools, government or otherwise, at that point in life. Similar failure to “connect the dots” plagues todays political and economic discourse as well.

First, If home schooling is so bad when then do so many Ivy League colleges ardently seek out students, home schooled all of the way through high school?

Second, though parents may not themselves be smart enough there is help: There are widely available pre-prepared home school curricula which, in my limited experience, is superior to the over-priced junk offered up the five or six huge textbook manufacturers.

Third, there is a huge home school community out there to share the duties and responsibilities for most parents, home school cooperatives. Most are informal weekly get togethers that meet in homes and on playgrounds---settling the third objection, that of “socialization.”