Letters to the Editor.

Left-Right Cooperation Can Work

Ruth Conniff's piece "Left-Right Romance" (May issue) points to the oddity of ideological opposites working together to challenge Channel One in our schools. As someone who has written extensively about Channel One and been active in the movement to remove it from schools, I found Conniff's writing very thoughtful and quite useful.

The idea that both Ralph Nader and Phyllis Schlafly might be on the same side on some issues can seem curious, but it is worth giving serious thought to. The religious right's "authoritarian populism" does have elements of good sense in its attempts to keep children from being seen as simply consumers of whatever commodities corporations want to aim at them. Strategic and very cautious cooperation between left and right on these things may be wise and may reduce the stereotypes on both sides.

This is not to say that such ultra-conservative movements aren't dangerous. They are. But, as I show in Cultural Politics and Education (Teachers College, 1996), sometimes people get pushed to the right because they don't easily see the left working on issues that are deeply troubling to them, such as too much central control of schools, curricula, and testing, and the dominance of things like Channel One. Working strategically with conservatives on some issues may give folks who are now integrated under the rightist umbrella a chance to see that those of us on the left do, indeed, have things to say that are crucial to the lives and well-being of their children.

Finally, it's important to realize that schools choose Channel One not out of some ideological commitment but because they don't have enough money to pay for needed equipment, texts, and many other things. The solution isn't just in getting Channel One out of schools---although that is crucial--but to give all schools the funds necessary for a high quality education for all children.

Michael W. Apple John Bascom Professor of Education University of Wisconsin-Madison

Amazed and Angered

I just wanted to briefly comment that the cover story for the April issue ("The Devil's Chair," Anne-Marie Cusac) was phenomenal. Cusac's research and findings not only amazed me but angered me as well. I wasn't totally surprised by some of the information she uncovered, just disgusted. Yet I was also relieved that someone went to such lengths to get this information out, and that a magazine like yours would print it.

As an International Relations/ Human...