LETTERS

Underfunding education and poaching baby sitters are wrongs that readers want righted. We also heard about the sadness of missing children, the thrill of a well-dressed man, the joy of friends marrying friends, and the lessons of blizzards.

THE CHINESE LESSON

Robert L. Turner quoted me correctly ("A World of Potential," February 3): From what we saw on the City to City trip, the Chinese are running circles around us. But Turner didn't give me quite enough space to complete the thought. The art and music studios, pottery kilns, and third-grade physics labs we saw at the school in Shanghai are there because the government pays for them. The Chinese understand that their success in the global economy depends on an educated population. Their current plan calls for public expenditure on education to reach 4 percent of the Gross National Product. To ensure an adequate supply of teachers, the government eliminated tuition at education colleges - how's that for free-market incentives? They understand that national priorities require resources, not just rhetoric.

By sad contrast, we have watched voters in Massachusetts town after town defeat Proposition 2 1/2 overrides while the state struggles to maintain level education funding and the federal government imposes mandates unsupported by money. In the 40-plus schools where we conduct our JFYNet programs, we work with creative, committed teachers who struggle to teach in crowded classrooms without computers, without books, often without paper and pencils. We watch foreign languages disappear from elementary schools and science education shrink to a skeleton. Meanwhile, we wait in vain for a political leader to admit the only way to save our schools is to raise the taxes that pay for them.

GARY KAPLAN Executive Director, JFYNetWorks Boston

BABY-SITTER WOES

Great article on baby-sitter stealing ("Perspective," February 3). I am the mother of two teenage daughters, great baby sitters. They spend so many Friday and Saturday nights sitting home, bored and broke. I have started calling friends with young children to give them my daughters' names and passing along their names to parents with young children I find in the local grocery store or Starbucks. These poor kids want work.

MICHELE WILSON
Lexington

I find it hard to conceptualize the "theft" of an independent child-care provider, who I understand may have personal loyalty to a family, but in reality has probably not signed any kind of binding contract.

In any market short on supply, consumers come out ahead by creatively shifting demand. Instead of competing with friends and neighbors, perhaps a little old-fashioned cooperation is in order: Swap baby-sitting nights with neighboring families, or pitch in to pay the baby sitter to watch both families' kids if all the adults are going out. Thinking even bigger: Organize a full-blown baby-sitting cooperative, in which several families take turns watching the kids or going out themselves.

Instead of shrinking one's circle of friends, these suggestions provide the possibility of fostering community.

HELENE NEWBERG Arlington

DRESSED TO IMPRESS

I enjoy the "Fashion Plates" column, most recently featuring science teacher Darren T. Wells (February 3), and the fact that you've had people from all walks of life, male and female, varying ages, etc. I'm not a fashionista, but I enjoy reading about them, especially the ones who don't necessarily spend a fortune on their clothes but still have style.

CANDELARIA SILVA-COLLINS
Dorchester

WHEN CHILDREN VANISH

Stacey Chase did an excellent job of presenting a portion of what parents of missing children go through ("Return to Me," February 3). Thank you very much.

BRUCE MAITLAND
Dekalb, New York

Editor's note: Maitland's daughter was featured in our article. Brianna went missing in 2004 at age 17.

You captured all of the emotions of the families without getting maudlin or overemotional. Thank you.

CATHERINE DELOREY
Boston

On behalf of Brianna Maitland's extended family, thank you for keeping the memory of these children alive. One never knows the means by which God will bring one of these precious ones home to their families.

WANDA MAITLAND KING
Honey Brook, Pennsylvania

THAT'S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR

I have to tell you how much I enjoyed and related to Alison Lobron's "Coupling" piece about officiating in her friends' wedding (February 3). Bot

h of my daughters, Danielle and Dina, were married by friends in 2005 and 2007, respectively, and in each case, it did exactly what Lobron wrote: made the ceremony more personal. In Danielle's case, neither she nor her husband, Mark, were churchgoers, but in Dina's case, her husband, Jim, and his family were, so it required a bit more of a sell from Dina. But in the end, I think even his family agreed that it was a beautiful ceremony, wonderfully spiritual if not strictly religious.

DAVID GREER
Dedham

I could totally relate to Lobron's piece. One of my closest friends had a daughter who was going to have a justice of the peace officiate at her wedding. When the friend heard me say that I would love to perform a wedding ceremony, she asked if I would do the honors. Her daughter was excited at the prospect of a family friend doing the ceremony. The wedding was to be both Protestant and Jewish, and the couple were writing it all, except for some words by me. I can honestly say I was the most nervous and excited I have ever been in front of a crowd. Everything went off beautifully, and I truly believe I was as happy and as excited as the bride and groom. And, yes, I did sign the marriage license!

GALE TIERNEY
Boston

WINTER WISE

Blizzard of '78: A direct, positive result of the blizzard is that today employers are more flexible in allowing the workforce to leave early or to stay at home during bad weather. And we citizens stock up on bread and milk, remembering the time when it was hard to find.

NANCY DAVIS
Belmont

SECOND OPINIONS

I have to take serious exception with Robin Abrahams's response to S.Z. in Pembroke regarding the men who pass gas at her place of work ("Miss Conduct, February 3). These men are behaving in a demeaning and degrading manner toward her. This is a very hostile action, and she could realistically file a harassment suit against the boss and offending co-workers.

ERIKA WELCH
Bartlett, New Hampshire

SEEN ON THE WEB

From award-winning novelist Jan Burke's blog:

Those of you who have read my books know that missing-persons cases are of particular interest to me. They've been a part of the series from Goodnight, Irene to Kidnapped. I've known people whose family members have been missing. Some still wait. It's a particular kind of hell. One of the best stories I've seen on this subject is "Return to Me," by Stacey Chase, which ran in yesterday's Boston Globe Sunday magazine. Like most articles about the missing, most of its focus is on missing children. (I am all for making every effort to find missing children, who are so vulnerable. I just wish missing adult cases mattered more to us - the National Center for Missing Adults also needs your help.) Chase's article is well worth reading.