World's problems challenge all of us to seek solutions

Mark Rosman, in his In the News column, ("There Is More to Life Than Problems in the Rain Forest," News Transcript, Jan. 4, 2007) bemoans the fact that his children are not learning in school about problems close to home.

I think he is missing the point that "problems in the rain forest" cause problems locally - in air quality and weather changes. I think it's a good thing when schools help children to see how interconnected this planet is.

He does see this interconnection when he tells his children that immigrants leave a country where there is no work for them to come here to find work, even if it is only day labor. And it certainly would be an excellent thing to study the new immigration patterns in school, where I hope there would be a more balanced presentation, i.e. the "positive" impact of a hard-working labor force as well as the "negative" impact of overcrowded schools.

Perhaps Mr. Rosman's children are asking him and his wife about "people from around the world trying to kill us" not because global hatred is being ignored in schools, but because his kids are not satisfied with simplistic answers. I think astute children like the Rosman kids challenge all of us to look deeply at the world's problems, and listen to many viewpoints (even those of their parents) in trying to solve them.

Donna Koloski

Freehold Borough