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Readers write: Humanity from the front lines to the classroom

Letters to the editor from the Nov. 20 Weekly. Readers discussed the importance of education and the value of recognizing humanity even amid war.

  • By Monitor readers

The need for open discourse

I am an avid reader of your sterling publication. With regard to your article “Free speech on college campuses: Is it time for reset?” from the Nov. 13 Weekly, I applaud your staff for bringing up a very sensitive but important topic. The foundation of the American experience centers on the premise of freedom of speech, expression of all opinions across the spectrum. Academic institutions are the heart of that premise. 

The Socratic academic construct relies on deductive thinking, open with no limits to reason, and constructive dialogue that represents a myriad of opinions. While the Israeli-Palestinian conflict may have exacerbated the behavior of both parties, the very essence of a democratic republic condones open and free discourse, or what I call transparent dialogues. I contend the issue is not expression, but rather behavior enabled by intense hyperbole, innuendo, and other sensationalism. Universities have a role in ensuring that freedom of expression and speech is not suppressed, no matter if it offends either party.

Anthony Demestihas
Alexandria, Virginia 

One-sided support?

That the Jewish people need their own state is not in question. Defending Israel’s right to exist does not also mean supporting Israel in oppression and violence against Palestinians. Israel’s long-term record of harsh border control, violent land appropriation, destruction of Palestinian farmlands, and killing of Palestinian people must also be addressed because, as was noted importantly in the article “After attack on Israel, why US leadership matters profoundly” in the Oct. 11 Daily, there is no military solution to the issues between Israelis and Palestinians. I am saddened by any one-sided support for either side. And I am glad that President Joe Biden has begun to balance his expressions of concern for both sides in this conflict.

Jerry McIntire
Elk Rapids, Michigan

China’s teachers

The Oct. 16 Weekly cover story, “Lifting up learning in rural China” by Ann Scott Tyson, was very well written and a joy to read. I could picture Ann trying to find a teacher no one had heard of. I was so interested that a couple, the Wus, fleeing their former life in China in 1961 and landing in California, would hold such a lifelong desire to help their former country and carry it through in 1992. Then Ann’s calling Lin-yi Wu in California and discovering “there are two villages with the same name, Yangjiagou, and I’m in the wrong one” added another unexpected turn. And finally, Lin-yi Wu having the phone number for Bai
Guiling’s daughter surprised me. 

I was impressed by Teacher Bai’s persistence to get her own education and later make it available to students in an environment where education was not prized. I contrasted her teaching in a cave to the elementary school I attended. 

Thank you for your marvelous story of a few of China’s uncommon “common” people and their extraordinary lives and desires.

Leslie Leggett
Bristol, Vermont

A human perspective

The story “In Israel, ‘can do’ army of volunteers fills official void” in the Nov. 6 Weekly is excellent. The majority of the media reporting focuses on the military and political aspects of this crisis and the international repercussions. This story covers an important angle and shows how the civilian response is holding things together inside Israel. It also provides a hint of what may be to come once the fighting is over. It’s heartening to see how the Israelis care for each other and are pulling together.

Cecelia Blalock
Herndon, Virginia

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

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