It’s a sad state of affairs when persons purporting to be qualified to set educational policy in Guilford condone rhetoric that attacks a young woman who is a role model to current students [described in the Aug. 19 letter “The Extreme Ideologies” by Kara Fikrig]. Perhaps, with diligence and intelligence, these students can follow her into one of the finest universities in the world.

Our school system and the splendid teachers who taught Kara Fikrig are the envy of other towns. If this is the way we treat our best and brightest, perhaps Guilford will no longer be viewed as hospitable to the highly educated, such as her. Her parents should be proud not only of her academic achievements but also of her intellectual and moral courage in standing up for teaching a complete American history and culture.

It is a sad irony that, in the same edition of the Courier, we have a letter reporting racist slurs at a community event [“Blatant Racism” by Robert Herrington]. Apparently, some parents, unlike Ms. Fikrig’s, did not take the trouble to fully educate their children, or, at the very least, teach them how to behave in public.

Kara Fikrig is completely forthcoming in reporting her academic affiliation. The so-called “truth in education” cabal should be equally forthcoming. I look forward to hearing what, exactly, are the academic and educational backgrounds of the current Republican slate for BOE, information that, at this point, is nebulous at best.

Margaret Murray

Guilford