Jenny, no offense taken. The results are few and far between, the huge disappointments and tragedy much more common. But once in a while you do see that you awaken something in someone. I have one student now who has developed, because I briefly had a large Chinese mantis on display and we were feeding it, a serious interest in insects. May not seem like much, but it's the first thing he's been interested in in school, other than his auto body repair class, as long as he can remember. It feels great, but at the same time I have to consider that his chances of going home and living a free life are slim. But if he does make it, I'll have been a part of that, in spite of endless layers of administrators who try to prevent success any way they can.

I have to add that I am all for the labor movement; I'm trying to promote it here, in a non-union state, through the National Education Association. But please let's not decorate any hope we might have with the stench of communism. I have seen what communism does to people, to countries, to people's ambitions and sense of worth (for God's sake I'm not talking about money here) (my wife came here as a refugee from Czechoslovakia). It is a horror not to be repeated or even tolerated. To use its theme song at a labor rally is, to me, a sign of extreme naivete and a terrible risk.

Thanks for the talk, Chet W.