Inasmuch as I have taught composition to thousands of students at Penn State, Youngstown State and two community colleges, I have a serious interest in the state's effort to require a passing grade by high school students on a series of exit examinations. I strongly support this much-needed educational tool ("State Panel Approves High School Exit Exam," Jan. 17).

Exit examinations would test not just the competency of individuals and provide a baseline by which students in various sections of the state could be compared, they would test the quality of teaching and the educational programs being used. Standardized examinations would be useful at the end of third, sixth, ninth and 12th grades to measure progress.

When state Sen. Jim Rhoades, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, contends that a high school diploma represents 12 years of intense learning, he is living a pathetic fantasy.

Every semester, my colleagues and I struggled to teach what students should have learned long before. Most high school students are -- for whatever the reason -- not receiving a legitimately good education in writing or English generally; most freshmen are barely competent in grammar, sentence development, the creation of paragraphs, research and analysis.

Although they will need to be able to communicate in their native language throughout life, most misunderstand the reason composition is required, concluding that it is only a means of raising tuition.

THOMAS J. BURNS
New Castle

---

While I agree with Jack Wagner's premise in his Jan. 30 Midweek Perspectives article "Make College More Affordable," I couldn't be more opposed to his solution. His approach advocates more government grants, which are funds taken away from the general budget and are not repaid.

I propose the abolition of all government grants to individual students and the giving of those funds directly to schools, thus lowering tuition. In addition, loan amounts should be increased so that every student who is accepted to college has the means to attend. The repayments could subsequently be used to fund another generation of students.

This solution would not affect private grants. Let the boosters pay for the football players' tuition.

CHRISTIAN WESTBROOK
Observatory Hill

---

We commend you for your Jan. 29 editorial ("Freer Speech") highlighting Turkey's continued and inexplicable use of Article 301 to indict citizens for openly discussing the Armenian Genocide.

Turkey is the only country in the world where speaking the truth about the Armenian Genocide is regarded a prosecutable offense. For simply mentioning the atrocities, Hrant Dink was hauled to court and convicted in 2005. His life was ultimately taken by forces determined to squash public discussion of this fact of world history.

Sadly, one year after Mr. Dink's assassination, Ankara has yet to overturn the climate of intolerance, prejudice and repression which led to this unspeakable crime. Instead, Mr. Dink's son, Arat Dink, was recently convicted under this much-criticized law for referencing the Armenian Genocide.

Article 301 has become a painful reminder of the open wounds of genocide and its denial. It is time for Turkey to provide more than just lip-service and get to the business of reforming its laws and stop its ongoing campaign of denial.

BRYAN ARDOUNY
Executive Director
Armenian Assembly of America
Washington, D.C.

---

It is obvious from the events of the past few weeks that the Clintons will try to do anything to regain the presidency, including smearing the name of a wonderful and visionary candidate who will bring hope to Washington and return luster to the White House.

We need to vote for Barack Obama and return this country back to the days when the torch in Lady Liberty's hand stood for hope, not despair; peace, not war; love, not hate; and dreams, not nightmares.

The election of 2008 is too important to the future of our country, to the future of our lives. We must right this country's wrongs and the best person for the job is the senator from lllinois, Barack Obama.

MARY REIHING
Westwood

---

Robert Kennedy once said, "It is from the numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

Barack Obama is instilling this sense of hope in some, this sense that one person can make a difference again in the United States for the first time in many years. This in itself is tougher in today's media age than it was years ago. With cable news channels affiliated with one party or another, it is hard to really get to the truth about what needs to be done for America. While it is always a worthy cause to help other struggling nations, shouldn't we take care of our own country, our own impoverished, our own nation first?

The media, it seems at times, are more interested in what a candidate is wearing or in what he or she said about another candidate 10 years ago than what needs to be done for this country.

Do we need change, as so many candidates are proclaiming, or do we need the status quo? Republican, Democrat or independent; for John McCain, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama or whomever -- it is for us, as Americans, to decide, not for the media. It is our time.

STEPHEN GOEDERT
Bethel Park

---

According to Rep. David Levdansky in "Achievable Property-Tax Reform," a Jan. 16 Midweek Perspectives article: "To cut property taxes, we need to raise other, fairer taxes." I respectfully suggest our state legislators examine the relevancy of state mandates that add to the overall operating costs of government instead of purely devising plans to raise certain taxes in order to lower property taxes.

In fact, it was the state Legislature that gave me the idea to suggest examining our state mandates when it published the "Final Report of the Task Force on School Cost Reduction." This task force found that Pennsylvania's schools could save millions each year through numerous cost-saving measures.

The task force was a 13-member panel established by the General Assembly as part of Special Session Act 1 of 2006. Legislators directed the task force to find ways to "minimize or reduce" costs to school districts. It spent a year researching the cost drivers in education and based its recommendations on strategies that would have the greatest impact in addressing these costs.

The General Assembly established the task force to include representatives with expertise in school finance and related issues. Three of the task force members were appointed by Gov. Ed Rendell, while the remaining 10 were appointed by legislative leaders.

JON O'BRIEN
McCandless

The letter writer is the director of communications, Master Builders' Association of Western Pennsylvania. He was an alternate member of the state task force.

---

In response to James Garden, Jr. (who, in a Jan. 30 letter titled "In Need of Symbol," was upset that Pittsburgh does not have a symbol or structure that immediately identifies us), I ask: Are you familiar with the fountain at the Point?

OK, so maybe it's not as well-known as the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty or the Sydney Opera House, but pictures and drawings of the fountain and the Point are used constantly to represent Pittsburgh.

Maybe the fountain doesn't "typify the essence of the pioneering, industrial, educational, medical and cultural spirit of Pittsburgh," but most Pittsburghers love it as much as Parisians love the Eiffel Tower or New Yorkers love the Statue of Liberty.

I think the fountain is worthy enough to be the "symbol" of Pittsburgh.

LIN STEFFANUS
Sheraden