I am disturbed by the letter purportedly from Ms. Bagley's elementary school "class" opposed to elk farming ("Shoot down elk 'farm' bill," March 22), even though I have no desire to hunt elk on such a farm. I am concerned about how public schools are spending my hard-earned tax dollars.
Public schools should be a place to hone skills in reading, writing, science, history and critical thinking. They are not the place for social or political indoctrination. Why are our grade school teachers engaging in politically correct indoctrination in such areas as their personal definition of respect for nature and our earth and its creatures when funding is tight and test scores for reading, math, and science skills continue to plummet?The very fact that none of Ms. Bagley's students had (or were allowed to offer) an opinion differing from this letter is further evidence this was an exercise in indoctrination or the co-opting of these students as pawns to further Ms. Bagley's personal political agenda rather than a legitimate educational experience. The Deseret News should not encourage such activities by printing these types of canned letters. Let individual students arrive at their own conclusions and write and send their own letters.
If I thought an opposing view would be allowed in Ms. Bagley's class, I would ask if she and her students felt similarly toward cows, chickens, pigs and escargot that are "raised for one reason, and that is to be slaughtered without any chance of escaping." I might also check to see how many of her students were competent in reading, writing, fractions and knew how the Revolutionary or Second World War started.
Ms. Bagley, get back to teaching the three R's, and leave the moral, social and political indoctrination to parents and churches.
Charles Hardy
Salt Lake City