Satire: KAL Provides the Sauce

Editor: Cartoonist KAL certainly riles people up, which is just what a political cartoonist is supposed to do. Apparently he succeeded particularly well in his recent depiction of Teflon-coated Reagans.

To the gentleman who found this portrayal appallingly anti-Irish, we offer a reminder that Ireland is famous in both literature and politics for its centuries-old tradition of virulent political satire.

To the woman whose breakfast was disturbed by KAL, we say that breakfast without KAL, for us, is a poached egg with no seasoning.

Thanks, KAL, for salting our mornings.

1! Clarinda and Michael Raymond. Baltimore.

Polluting Smoke

Editor: This week on one of my occasional drives over the Key Bridge, I noticed Baltimore's beautiful city skyline. I also thought the water in the bay was actually beginning to look blue again. Then I looked toward Sparrows Point and saw great billows of black and red-brown smoke. When is the Bethlehem Steel Corp. going to stop polluting the air over Baltimore.?

Robert E. Banks. Baltimore.

Protective Dress

Editor: After reading the April 21 article regarding date rape, et. al., I was reminded of something that happened to me some years ago. It was 4 p.m., still light, and I was going to my office on Route 40 West to pick up my paycheck.

I felt someone very near me. When I turned I came face to face with a strange man. I guess because I screamed, all he managed to do was get his hand up my dress and then he ran.

When I told a co-worker what happened, he asked me "what were you wearing?" For the record, I was wearing a full-length wool coat (over a dress), a wool scarf, knee-length leather boots, gloves and a knit hat. The only part of my body that was visible was my face, and I even had on sunglasses.

The only reason this co-worker absolved me of blame was because I was dressed for a blizzard. But I can tell you, that wool coat gets damned hot in July.

& Joyce C. Robinson. Glen Burnie.

Cable Education

Editor: Professor George Hahn, of Towson State University, attempts to make a case against the University of Maryland's sponsorship of a program delivering accredited courses to students on cable television.

His major concern seems to be that persons earning a B.A. in this manner may not be getting the best possible education. Consequently, he implies, the program ought not be undertaken at all.

The true picture of today's undergraduate eduction is accurately understood by imagining you are one of 200-500 students sitting in a large auditorium listening to a graduate student lecturing monotonously. The number of students who actually receive the kind of personal attention Mr. Hahn lauds is minimal.

More troubling is Mr. Hahn's suggestion that the medieval teaching methods with which he is so enamored represent the pinnacle of the instructional arts. Unfortunately, his resistance to the application of modern technology to education is not unusual.

As a doctoral student in the classics department at the University of Minnesota, I ran into the same kind of resistance to using the computer as a means of giving individualized instruction to students in basic courses. The situation has not changed even 12 years later. Gutenberg no doubt met similar resistance among the privileged faculty of 15th century universities.

I agree with Mr. Hahn that television is not the ideal vehicle for delivering instruction. But that does not mean that its use should be dismissed out of hand.

Dale V. Gear. Pasadena.

Health Care Boom

Editor: In his April 14 column on access to health care, Ray Jenkins expresses concern that health care may represent "a quarter of the projected Gross National Product at the turn of the century."

In the early 1900s, the United States changed from an agricultural to a manufacturing economy. Now we are changing from a manufacturing to a service economy. By the year 2000, 80 percent of the work force will be in the service-producing rather PTC than in the goods-producing sector.

Currently 16 million Americans work in health care, providing a valuable service to their fellow citizens. Health care is the fastest growing part of the economy. Twelve of the 25 fastest growing occupations are in health care. During the past year, in a recession, one million new jobs were added in health care. Would Mr. Jenkins rather that these one million people be unemployed to keep the health care percentage of the GNP down??

# Leon Reinstein. Baltimore.

Misleading Teacher Salary Chart

Editor: The recent article by Joan Tyner (March 24), "Issues of Teacher Salaries Assumes New Shape", falls perfectly in line with the wave of teacher-bashing we have seen in recent years. The crux of Ms. Tyner's article is the accompanying chart of teacher earnings which suggests that teachers receive outlandish salaries and therefore, salary is no longer an issue to be considered.

The salaries listed are accurate; however the manner in which they are presented is misleading. One would think that as soon as a teacher earns a masters degree and an additional 30 graduate credits he or she receives these salaries. This is far from the truth. To bring teacher salaries into perspective, the editor should have included one more column in the chart -- how long it takes to arrive at these salaries. One gains a better understanding of the issue of teacher earnings.

To earn these salaries, the teacher must have a bachelor's degree (at a personal cost of $12,000 to $40,000), the listed years of experience, the master's degree and 30 additional graduate credits (which are earned at night or during the summer with a portion of the cost paid by the teacher) and the collective begging process which teachers' associations are forced to go through each year.

Compare these salaries and the years required to earn the salaries with those of other professionals with equal training and advanced work, and perhaps you can see the same inequity that educators see.

The public has to stop looking at "quick fix" programs and "low ++ cost" solutions to help our schools reach the level of excellence we hope to achieve. It would also be helpful if those who proclaim to be experts in the field of education would write about reasonable solutions to whatever problems may exist, rather than focusing only on what they perceive as shortcomings of our educational systems.

# Mark S. Siegel. Bel Air.

Fat McFibs

Editor: Where's the fat? It's still in McDonald's new "McLean Deluxe." ("Where's the Fat?" The Sun, April 12).

Assertions that McDonald's new burger is only 9-percent fat are nothing but a big McFib. That figure is the result of a meaningless per-weight calculation food manufacturers use to make a product seem leaner than it actually is. When you determine the fat content of the McLean Deluxe on a per-calorie basis ' the way nutritionists do it ' the burger is actually 49 percent fat. That's a long way from lean.

Virginia Messina. Washington.