A reader asks why, after all the spending on education,...

A reader asks why, after all the spending on education, why Long Island student test scores are so 'dismal.' Credit: iStock/Getty Images/Rubberball

Are pupils getting our money’s worth?

Of the Long Island students tested, 52.5% showed proficiency in English and 58.4% in math [“Test scores vary for LI students,” News, Dec. 20]. Are these scores something to revel in? Are they a passing grade?

Here’s a better headline: “After spending so much money per student on education, why are Long Island results so dismal?” Who is being held accountable?

— Ray Nella, Massapequa

‘Poison blood’ rhetoric a threat

Former President Donald Trump’s weekend speech at a campaign rally where he said that immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country” indeed echoed the rhetoric of Adolf Hitler during his Nazi rallies, rants and raves of the 1930s and during World War II [“Talks on border security grind on amid hate vitriol,” News, Dec. 18].

Such talk, especially from a former president, let alone a candidate for the same office, is yet another sign that Trump is a threat to both our domestic and international security.

Other than Native Americans, all of us Americans have a family tree that, one way or another, included someone who immigrated here from another country. And that includes Trump’s family, who came here from Germany.

As a registered Republican and the son of a Holocaust survivor, I find such talk totally reprehensible, unacceptable and, trying to be polite, disgusting.

— Mike Solomon, Northport

Trump also dealt with harassment

A reader complained that the Republicans’ House impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden is a waste of time and funds [“Impeachment inquiry wastes time, money,” Letters, Dec. 20]. The Democrats made then-President Donald Trump endure four years of harassment and not one but two impeachments, not to mention the Mueller report.

Even to this day, they are trying to keep Trump off the 2024 ballot.

— Bruce Poulos, Massapequa

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