Readers Write (March 14): Gender bias, safety in the schools, immigrants in the U.S., child care and unions

The phrase "like a girl" has become demeaning. So many young teenage boys and girls hear it used in an unacceptable way. "You throw like a girl." "You run like a girl." It is a phrase that just stuck with a sinking, belittling definition behind it. That needs to change.

But the tragic truth of it all is that it does not end there. Gender roles are still a huge problem in our country. Not only for women, but men, too. Men are supposed to be tough, hardworking people, and when they do not act that way, they get harassed. Women need to cook and clean and cannot lift anything heavy because they are too fragile. All of these are stereotypes that need to end.

I believe the first place we can start with changing this is in children's books. I cannot help seeing that women in children's books are often wearing dresses and they are not doing the hard work that the men are doing. I think this ingrains stereotypes for men and women, even if the child does not know it.

We have a long way to go before we are equal, but it can start with you. Next time you use the phrase "like a girl," take a step back and think about how it degrades the process of moving forward with equality.

Abby Jacobson, Eden Prairie

SAFETY IN THE SCHOOLS

How to get students thinking, talking about this together

A great way to improve school climate isn't by "drawing upon the expertise of counselors, social workers, nurses and psychologists," as a December article about a plan to address safety in the St. Paul School District suggested. It's a school taking action to help students establish greater relationships within the school. In order to help establish this trait, schools could have students ranging from all grades assigned to a certain classroom that would focus on a specific workshop.

The workshops would concentrate on teaching students how to prevent and report incidents within their community at school. In addition, it'll help students get to know one another better. Every week, they'll rotate with new peers. This will improve school climate, because students can act as best informers when something goes wrong among their fellow classmates.

Throughout my high school years, I've noticed many of my peers have struggled with this specific obstacle — forming greater bonds with peers. I believe this solution would allow my peers to be more likely to notice unusual behaviors. Therefore, they could bring the matter to school officials, who could take the required actions. Furthermore, it would encourage students to talk to the parents about their friends' unusual behaviors. Overall, the goal would be to enable a student to put in all efforts to convince a friend from straying from others and make them aware of consequences. Because the students control their own minds, only they can be the solution to this obstacle.

Fue Xiong, St. Paul

IMMIGRANTS IN THE U.S.

Remember those who have contributed, and those yet to follow

A big "thank you" to the Star Tribune for publishing the positive immigrant story of my former classmate and former colleague Tin Tran ("The Rev. Tin Tran Pastor, Vietnam War veteran and state engineer," obituary, March 10). His too-short life was an exemplary example of one immigrant's harsh early life turned positive and productive after arriving in the U.S. — the "American Dream."

We humans have been a mobile species since our very beginning. Humans didn't evolve in the Americas. All of us in the U.S. either came from another continent, or our ancestors did. To declare that immigration to the U.S. should end is ridiculous in the face of many millennia of global human migration.

Regardless of the amount of time that has passed since your family put down roots in the U.S., remember those who are yet to follow. And remember Tin Tran's lifelong contribution to his adopted country and his community. He represented all of the best that recent immigrants bring to strengthen, build and grow our country and communities.

Melinda Erickson, Minneapolis

CHILD CARE AND UNIONS

These businesses' independence is more than a mind-set

An otherwise good article on the child-care election ("Minnesota's child-care providers say no to unionizing," March 2) had an odd conclusion:

Aaron Sojourner, a labor economist with the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management, said, "This touches on some of the changes in the economy. You see more people seeing themselves as independent businesses. … There's this growing breakdown of this traditional employment and traditional union."

The women who rejected joining AFSCME do not merely "see themselves as independent businesses." They are independent businesses and fought long and hard against Gov. Mark Dayton and the union to stay that way. There was never any employer/employee relationship between these child-care providers and the state.

The only relationship is between parents who get a subsidy for child care and the state that offers the subsidy. And that relationship was exploited in 2013 to pass a law allowing the unionization of child-care providers.

The Star Tribune got it right earlier in the article:

Jennifer Parrish, a Rochester child-care provider and a leader of the Coalition of Union Free Providers, said the results of the vote weren't surprising. "Family child-care providers are small-business owners. … We set our own rates, we create our own working conditions — all the things that unions typically negotiate for, we determine for ourselves."

The 2013 law that allowed union "elections" is up for repeal. It should pass in the House, though support in the Senate is in doubt. A repeal would free providers to stop listening for a knock at the door from AFSCME.