SEATTLE'S WORMS
In searching for an explanation why Michael Medved doesn't "fit" in conformist Seattle, Tim Appelo stumbled upon the dual-headed worms at the core of Seattle's culture ["Odd Man Out," May 14]. First, ours is a stultifying monoculture with virtually no acknowledged diversity of non-left-wing collectivist opinion. The same people who endlessly parrot the mantra "diversity is our strength" tolerate nothing of the sort when it comes to divergent political opinion. Second, our "spiritual, not religious" culture worships relentlessly at the altar of the false god of niceness. The problem with elevating niceness to the highest rank among virtues is that it blinds us to truth and hinders us in choosing between good and evilor even which movie to see this weekend. Medved's a good guy. Why doesn't the Weekly give him some column space? Having a little independence and diversity in your pages wouldn't hurt.
John J. Sullivan
Seattle
MEDVED'S RUSH JOB
Michael Medved undercuts himself with his own whining words ["Odd Man Out," May 14]. "There used to be very conservative critics like the late Bosley Crowther . . . , " he moans. Neoconservatives today, like Medved, don't know what the real conservatism of a Crowther or Russell Kirk wasnor is. They simply cry out "Political!" and "Leftist!" when someone disagrees with them. The in-your-face confrontation tactics of Medved, Rush Limbaugh, et al., rarely engage insight, analysis, and true ideas, more often drifting into innuendo, condescension, and self-righteous patronizing.
Medved sneers that "the typical Roger and Gene trend show would be 'Blond Femme Fatales.' I was adamant that we should be edgier. . . . " Hogwash! Medved has never produced a program anywhere near equal to the quality of Siskel and Ebert's analytic tribute to black-and-white film, to mention one of their thoughtful specials. (Unless "edgier" means insulting.)
Is it any wonder he gets "uninvited to the party, seven years after he arrived from L.A."? Medved is a lightweight, no matter where he lives.
John F. Foster
Seattle
BIG BROTHER'S CRITIC
Geezhas anyone looked at the "Collected Critical Works of Bosley Crowther" lately ["Odd Man Out," May 14]? There's a good reason there aren't many critics like that anymorethey sucked!
The most tiresome thing about self-styled conservative and neocon critics like Medved is that the art that best satisfies their political aesthetic is closest to the purified (and ultimately statist) official art of totalitarian societiesall virtue and no guts. He deserves to be in a minority of a minorityand what artist (even of the most commercial variety) could stand to toe the line of such a scold? Screw him.
Greg Ferguson
Portland, OR
WASL MISMATCH
Let me add to the reasons cited by Nina Shapiro for opposition by teachers to WASL testing ["Put to the Test," May 14].
The testing process takes three weeks. Those who worry about loss of learning during the summer should consider the effect when the last term of the school year is so seriously interrupted for WASL testing.
Grades earned for long-term performance in class are raised in some districts as a reward for passing sections of the WASL. Similarly, failure to pass the WASL in 10th grade will soon "overrule" passing grades earned in class. Thus, short-term performance on a test becomes more valued than long-term performance in a real working environment, i.e., the classroom.
The WASL has been described as a measurement of critical-thinking, problem-solving, and observation skills. But good educators know that critical-thinking skills are best acquired, and measured, in a meaningful context that builds on student experience. The WASL asks students to perform critical-thinking tasks out of context. This is a mismatch between methods and goals.
Rebecca Timson
Seattle
THE TEST FAILS
Is there nobody willing or able to see and say the truth about the WASL ["Put to the Test," May 14]? It seems obvious to me it is a bad test, badly written and largely incomprehensible. I have two kids in the Seattle Public Schools. I have seen the WASL-prep teaching material they bring home. It makes me gag. It is badly written, bizarrely complex, and largely incompressible, not only to the kids but to their two middle-class, college-educated parents. Can the test be any different?
I would like to see test-testing by well-educated adults (not professional educators). Let's see what their pass rate is. And let's hear what they have to say about it.
Can we stop this juggernaut before it crushes the real education of our children?
Howard Stambor
Seattle
THE MAN FROM MOLSON
In Canada, some of us do half-jokingly fret about a resource-starved U.S. colonizing us to cop fresh water, natural gas, and other candy from our irreverent, multilateralist welfare state ["Canada's Next," May 14]. But reading of Knute Berger's embattled relationship with the American far right ["Oh, Please, Not France!" April 9], I worry that our secret outpost south of the American border might be first. Not to fear: Our agents long ago infiltrated your national comedy infrastructure and will fight this fire, as always, with satire.
Syd Baumel
Winnipeg, Canada
LEAVE IT? WHERE?
The story about the U.S. taking over Canada is just one more of my paranoias [Mossback, "Canada's Next," May 14]. I mean, I was always going to escape to Canada. . . . Rats! Where do I go now?
