Readers Write (April 5): Archdiocese and DeLaSalle students, guns, teachers, restaurant wages

How far from decency can religious fundamentalism go? First we hear Catholic presidential candidate Rick Santorum declare same-sex unions akin to bestiality.

Now we learn that representatives of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis not only agree but also pronounce adopted children to be defective -- "sociologically unstable," to be specific ("DeLaSalle kids have a few words with archdiocese at marriage talk," Jon Tevlin column, April 4).

Amid concerns about whether our schoolchildren are being sufficiently prepared, I was heartened to read that pupils at the Catholic high school are quite capable of exercising intelligent and compassionate spunk and do not hesitate to question blind adherence to religious dogma.

The archdiocese's agenda was transparent even to relatively unsophisticated high-school seniors. Using a final opportunity to indoctrinate new voters via a mandatory school assembly, the archdiocese hoped to push through the proposed constitutional amendment to limit marriage to same-sex unions.

I applaud these students for the courage it takes to search out their personal truth in the face of unfriendly "authority."

SHAWN GILBERT, BLOOMINGTON

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MARGARET LARSON, EDINA

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The senior students at DeLaSalle have just been given a life lesson. It seems to me that our church hierarchy has moved from being pastoral to being dogmatic. It seems to have moved from reading the New Testament and has focused on reading canon law. Good luck, young people.

MICHAEL HAWKINS, MINNEAPOLIS

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Once again, someone is blaming guns for violence when it should lie squarely on the shoulders of the actor. What difference will it make if a kid takes a gun or a knife to school and kills people? In either case, it is the person who is at fault and not the tool.

We have gone overboard as a society in the last few decades to relieve ourselves, our children and our parents of any blame or responsibility, instead blaming TV, video games, movies, bullying, language barriers, guns, racism, drugs, politicians, teachers, cellphones, texting, Facebook, Twitter, etc., for all of society's ills.

Pointing fingers at those things will do us no good at all. Unless and until we take full responsibility for raising our children, instilling in them a strong faith, good morals, ethics, manners, and even something as simple as the golden rule and a respect for their parents and elders (not blind faith, but a general respect), and providing them with a stable family life and home, our society will continue to disintegrate. We all must participate in this reawakening and renaissance if we are to survive and live in peace.

JIM PAULSON, FARMINGTON

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To teach well, one must manage a classroom full of disparate individuals, some of whom undoubtedly wish to be somewhere else. At the same time, the teacher must be a performer and coach, capable of engaging the minds of the students to impart knowledge or skills.

The teacher must be a diplomat, capable of communicating with parents, sometimes delivering news about their children that they do not want to hear. The teachers must be students, taking classes at their own expense to maintain licenses, and attending "in-service" meetings to learn the latest educational theories, testing plans and paperwork rules.

Finally, the teacher must manage reams of paperwork and documentation as mandated by local school districts and state and federal authorities.

The wonder isn't that we have a few poor teachers; it is that we have any good teachers in our schools. With a skill set described above, they could command a much higher wage in business or industry -- probably for fewer hours of education and work.

SUE SHEREK, FRIDLEY

Last week, the lobbyist for Minnesota's restaurant industry invoked memories of rural Main Street Ma-and-Pa cafes to push a cap and freeze on the wages of their tipped workers.

Servers are mostly adult women. They need their wages and work hard for their tips by making the employer look good. The Restaurant Association would single these workers out, denying them the basic right of a minimum-wage hike should it ever rise again.

Servers need increases. To meet her family's basic needs, a single parent with one child in Greater Minnesota working for the current minimum wage of $7.25 per hour would have to work 93 hours a week.

Outstate restaurants are not suffering more than other businesses. Job openings there in the food preparation/serving occupational group climbed 46 percent in the most recent vacancy survey; the figure is now higher than it was before the onset of the Great Recession.

From the point of view of Greater Minnesota workers, what's not rising is the share of good paying full-time jobs to offset the preponderance of low-paying, part-time, no-benefit jobs: According to the most recent Job Vacancy Survey for Greater Minnesota, there are 77,000 job seekers competing for 11,000 full-time job openings.