Letters to the editor for Dec. 1

Too much homework?

I was taken aback and amused by the proposal by the lady from Yelm that one or two pages a week is a healthy amount of homework and that it shouldn’t be allowed to interfere with hobbies.

The statement that it can’t be helped if students “do their hobbies before homework” is blatantly silly. I can only assume that she is a student who hasn’t yet been exposed to the rigors of the real world.

I sympathize because I was never enthusiastic about homework and by the time I completed my post grad studies was thoroughly tired of it. However, reality is reality and effort pays off.

I would have been delighted as an adult to work one or two days a week and spend more time with my hobbies, but it doesn’t work that way. The more that educators and parents impress upon their kids that responsibility comes first and fun second, the more they ensure their success in real life.

There should always be time for fun, but the attitude that education comes second to fun is a main reason that American students score lower in math and the sciences than students in many developed countries and, in many cases, can’t find those countries on a map.

I’m familiar with the amount of homework assigned in Japan and South Korea. Count your blessings.

Understanding opioids

The opioid epidemic is suffering in the public’s view just as its predecessor, the crack epidemic, did. The public is not educated enough to understand the depth of these drug epidemics, and can spread misinformation — specifically, with innovative solutions such as safe-injection sites (SIS) and medically assisted treatment (MAT) facilities that the public does not fully understand, which receive backlash despite proving that they make their communities safer.

Safe-injection sites reduce the spread of disease, and the concern about addicts being around the safe-injection sites should be challenged. People coming to safe-injection sites will be more cautious individuals, who have addictions to heroin. The stereotypical “junkie” would not put in the effort to safely inject heroin. Just by attempting to be safer should separate those individuals from stereotypical addicts who are more prone to risky behavior (like crime), and wouldn’t bother to travel to the safe-injection site. SIS’s also give users a point of contact to resources that will help them get treatment, such as MAT.

MAT is when a patient uses an opioid-agonist, the agonist prevents the patient from experiencing a high from heroin, the agonist also stops opioid withdrawal symptoms that can be deadly. Weaning a user of heroin off using MAT treatment is more than twice as effective in having users recover from their addiction.

The opioid epidemic needs more understanding among the public.