baltimoresun.com - Editorial

Minimum competence

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Our view: Maryland has spent years establishing math standards for high school graduates, but what if those standards don't actually prepare students for college?

A generation ago, educators were pointing with alarm to the fact that Johnny couldn't read. Today the alarm is just as likely to be over the fact that Johnny can't do algebra, either. A study by the Abell Foundation reported that nearly half of Maryland high school graduates need remedial courses in math once they go to college because they haven't mastered the essential skills in high school. And it's not just algebra they're having trouble with. Professors say they're getting students ill prepared to handle even the most elementary math, including basic arithmetic.

An intelligent idea

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Our view: Details deserve scrutiny but BGE smart grid concept is sound

B altimore Gas and Electric Co.'s proposal to install customer smart meters to promote conservation is (at 450 pages) a complicated plan that will require close scrutiny by the Maryland Public Service Commission. But the essential idea - to enable the utility to track electricity and gas consumption on an hourly basis and set prices accordingly - is not only smart but vital for Maryland's energy future.

TC deserves answers

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Our view: The leaders of Towson Catholic High need to explain why they didn't seek the help of alumni and why they gave so little warning before closing the school

T owson Catholic High School was not the first parochial school in Baltimore to close, and given declining enrollments and a tough economy, it most certainly won't be the last. But it would be hard to imagine a school doing a worse job of handling such a difficult situation. The abrupt announcement, coming less than two months before school is due to resume, left students and faculty alike scrambling to find placements for the fall. The school's leadership made no attempt to reach out to alumni for help before the closure, and it has made no effort since to explain itself to the justifiably angered community. The school is holding a meeting Tuesday night to help students find slots in other Catholic schools, but it needs to take the opportunity to do more than that. It needs to provide answers.

Time to investigate

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Our view: A congressional probe into Bush-era misdeeds now seems all but inevitable

F rom the beginning, President Barack Obama said he wanted to look forward rather than back. That's why he pledged early on to hold harmless CIA officers who engaged in torture deemed legal by the Bush administration, opposed prosecuting the Bush-era Justice Department lawyers who sanctioned the abuses, announced plans to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and began phasing out the military tribunals set up to try detainees.

What the record shows

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Our view: As the U.S. Senate examines Judge Sotomayor and her record, what's likely to emerge is a centrist, qualified jurist who merits confirmation

E ven before Judge Sonia Sotomayor was nominated for the Supreme Court, the rallying cry went out from the predictable social conservatives that Senate Republicans needed to sharply attack President Barack Obama's nominee, if only to prove their fealty to their politically influential evangelical allies.

Clash of the Internet titans

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Our view: Increased competition between Microsoft, Google is good for consumers

O f course, we all know who to cheer for when David challenges Goliath. But what happens when Goliath is staring down, say, a worldwide corporation that makes tens of billions of dollars a year?

A broken system

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Our view: The Lamont Davis case suggests serious problems with how the criminal justice system deals with violent juvenile offenders; there's got to be a better way

Our view: The Lamont Davis case suggests serious problems with how the criminal justice system deals with violent juvenile offenders; there's got to be a better way

Don't ask, just repeal

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Our view: Md. delegation should work harder to end ban on gays in the military

R ep. Patrick Murphy of Pennsylvania, an Iraq war veteran, is making a push this summer for a congressional repeal of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military. Even back in 1993, when President Bill Clinton first proposed this artless dodge, a majority of Americans favored letting gays serve openly. Sixteen years later, the numbers are overwhelming; a CNN/Opinion Research poll in December found 81 percent of Americans now share that belief.

Paper chase

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

When the Baltimore City Police Department invited me to spend a day with its officers recently, I had visions of myself in a bulletproof vest tearing though the streets in hot pursuit of bad guys, or swooping down in a chopper on the trail of a burglary in progress.

Is Joppa Road the new Rodeo Drive?

Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0400

Remember when upscale shopping in Towson meant a trip to Hutzler's? Well, you can forget those days. On Wednesday, Louis Vuitton opened in what can only be described as the luxury wing of Towson Town Center. The French designer is to leather handbags and accessories what Taittinger is to champagne and beluga sturgeon are to caviar.