There’s a Lady standing in a New York harbor who feels Layton Rep. Trevor Lee must have misinterpreted her when she said, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.”
When Lee’s proposed, misrepresented, or leaked document suggesting some children in the U.S. should be denied an education saw some light outside his office, the Lady shuddered.
I suspect America’s Mother of Freedom would more likely hold with the views of the Koran: Surah 39; Verse 9: “Now it is the duty of every literate Muslim to educate the uneducated as ordained by the Prophet, peace be upon him.”
The Bible: Proverbs 16:16: “Having wisdom and understanding is better than having silver or gold.”
The Doctrine and Covenants 88:118: “Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.”
The Jewish Talmud, written nearly 1,700 years ago, says there is a duty to teach one’s children a way to earn a living.
Malcolm X said: “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”
And Benjamin Franklin pointed out that: “The only thing more expensive than education is ignorance.”
Check your bearings, Rep. Lee. Let’s stand with the Lady.
Andy White, Holladay
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