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Readers write: women's colleges, children learn from each other, life sentence for Boston bomber

Letters to the editor for the June 1, 2015, weekly magazine.

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Steve Helber/AP Photo/File
Graduating seniors at Sweet Briar college participate oi the tradition senior ride on the quad at the school in Sweet Briar, Va., Wednesday, May 13, 2015. The senior ride is a tradition where seniors are allowed to ride horses on school grounds. The school is scheduled to close in August with the final commencement ceremonies Saturday May 16.

Demand for women’s colleges
Regarding the May 16 online article “Sweet Briar’s last class? Why some all-women colleges are disappearing” (CSMonitor.com): The demand for women’s colleges is actually increasing. As more women in global cultures obtain the rights to be educated, and as more families can afford to send their daughters to college, there is a huge market for American women’s colleges. Female students from conservative families, especially in India and Middle Eastern countries, are very interested in attending women’s colleges in the US.
Jessica Campbell
Nitro, W.Va.

Children learn from each other
With a 40-year career as a social worker, I read with interest the May 11 cover story, “The overbooked generation.” Through modeling and precepts, parents create the basics and the framework for values and ethics. But parents and children are not equals. The essential and pragmatic fine-tuning in relationships occurs between children and their close friends in unsupervised activities when the playing field is level and unfettered. After disputes arise and friction results, there will soon be efforts to regain the warmth of the friendships. Those efforts include conciliation, compromise, negotiation, respectful discourse, apology, and empathy. The skills developed will determine the quality and success of interpersonal relationships and group participation for life. 
Vic Pike
John Day, Ore.

Boston bomber’s life sentence
Regarding the May 4 Monitor’s View “Why Boston bomber Tsarnaev deserves a life sentence”: I agree that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev should have received life in prison without parole rather than the death penalty. But I have zero confidence that Tsarnaev would ever “repent and reform.” If executed he would become a martyr in the eyes of violent Muslim extremists and a poster child for recruitment by Islamic State and Al Qaeda. If he were in prison for life, he would have no value to the violent extremists and be forgotten.
Warner Shedd
East Calais, Vt.

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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”:

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