European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 26, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 14letters to the editor wednesday january 26, 1994 thes european edition col Steven s. Hoffman Usan commander publisher. Bernard a. Zovistoski editor news and editorial Haboran Kabahar now editor Bill Patkar european editor. Bob Wicker sports editor. George Menee City editor to write us unit 29480 Apo a 09211 or Postrach 1114 37 64278 Darmstadt Germany news Tel fax 06155-601416 to Call us dial 06155-601 plus Extension or Dan 348-8 plus Extension As follows news ext. 237,255,282,226,326. Sports ext. 225,269, 263, 332, 321, 221. Features ext. 230, 245,341. Letters to editor ext. 208. Education Jimi Jones ext. 226. Business news ext. 326. News bureaus Heidelberg Germany Joseph Owen room 117, Rome intr 104, 69126 hol Delberg car 419, Box 1318, Apo a 09102 Telephone Dan 370-7010 or civilian 06221-23421 Tel fax 06221-23421. 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The appearance of advertising in this publication including inserts or supplements does not constitute endorsement by the department of defense or the stars and stripes of the products or services  students America does not develop top basketball players without the elitist concept of varsity basketball teams. But the elitist concept in academics is under attack. In department of defense dependents schools its now unthinkable to have a ninth Grade honors science class. Mathematically skilled sixth graders serve As role models and Tutor those less capable instead of pressing on with More appropriate material. Germany groups students by ability into gymnasium reals Chuie Ana Haupt Schule at age 10 or so. Japan also groups students by ability. Yet american school accreditation teams cheer eighth Grade math teachers who want All students in mixed ability algebra classes regardless of their proficiency in multiplication tables or fractions. Competition has just As much place in the classroom As it does on the basketball court. If talented students Breeze along at the same level with everyone else they Are deprived of the High expectations they deserve. Lets Challenge All students. That a equity. A Elda Ridenour Kaiserslautern Germany. A a exaggerated problem i believe another Point of View needs to be voiced about the recent front Page article a How swede it Isnit says cruise goer a Jan. 9 about the tour to Sweden and Denmark. I have been a top Tours guide for the past three years. I am also a former Volunteer at Rhein main itt. I have heard Many similar complaints about All of the tour companies. I feel it was very unfair of you to single out top Tours. All of the companies have at one time or another circumstances beyond their control that can cause unexpected problems. As a guide i explain to my tourists what has happened and what we myself included and the tour Are going to do. If you read the flier there is a statement that the tour company has the right to change the itinerary. _ with few exceptions i have enjoyed the individuals i have travelled with but there Are a few people no matter what you do who you cannot please. They tend to try to. Convince other tour members that things Are much worse than they really Are. I am sorry the sergeants from Mannheim expectations were not  feel this Issue was blown Way. Out of proportion. Top is an excellent company and provides Quot top Tours to its clients. A Katie Meyer Rhein main a Germany a a. A. A a a a a. A a a a a a a  smokers alone in response to skating rink smokers this is to All nonsmokers who have nothing better to do with their time than to sit Back and complain about smokers. I am a smoker and i disagree with everything said in the letter. Smokers have very few places to smoke. Is it not Good enough that smoking has been banned just about everywhere trying to keep children away from secondhand smoke is one thing but consider car exhaust food cancer aids drugs arid everything else that you la die from. So give us smokers a break and complain about something More important. A Kathy Hocking Ansbach Germany a a a a o Quot Liberal outlets in response to the letter calling for an hour of Howard Stern to be broadcast on american forces network All i can say is a go for  if enough people out there find his program entertaining and informative and want to listen to Howard Sterns program then it should be added to an s program list. However if the Only reason the writer wants to listen to this program is to  vide a equal time Between conservative and no conservative viewpoints All he has to do is watch can read time mag Agazine Newsweek the stars and stripes or any of the other Liberal Media that slowly erode our society with their hypocritical self deluding mind numbing psycho babble every Day. A Christopher a Schuler Raf Chicksands England Schaffenburg problem Here in Aschaffenbur. Its also the German Law to Recycle. The Only question i have is How can we Recycle paper if the paper bin is always full Ana i do mean full we Veall called the Community commander numerous times requesting they the bins be dumped More  a sure the Call was maae in our behalf. I done to know about Kitchen space in kit Zinger but ours is Small. We Recycle everything required of us but what do we do with the paper products while we wait to have it picked up we also have a problem with trash bags and boxes in front of the dumpsters which is an ugly picture. Besides cleaning up the mess which is done constantly what Els can we do a Sandy Shields Aschaffenbur Germany editors note we encourage our readers a especially those who have never submitted a letter a to write to us. Letters expressing readers viewpoints or opinions Are published daily on this Page. All letters must be signed and in elude address and Telephone number. Preference is Given to Shorter letters so a that More can be published in a timely manner. We Reserve the right to edit letters for clarity length and taste. Send to letters to the editor the stars and stripes unit 29480, Apo a 09211.commentary a in by the Washington Post under its new government Russia is setting off into the fog without a Compass. Most of the political leaders strongly committed to economic Reform have bailed out. The prime minister Viktor s. Chernomyrdin who is no Friend of theirs says that his program will now Combine some Western ideas with greater regard for the special circumstances of the russian situation. That sounds like an attempt to Compromise Between Market principles and communist practice. It  work and the effects will unfortunately be much harder on the russian people than the original reforms would have been. For president Clinton this change of course in Moscow comes uncomfortably hard on the heels of his Summit meeting there with president Boris n. Yeltsin. Its a Strong hint that Western influence on developments in Russia Over the coming months will be slight. The Western democracies will need to keep their Aid ready to support Good decisions when Russia makes them. But if there Ever existed a time when foreign Aid could be used As a great lever to change minds in Russia that time has now passed. That a a setback for american foreign policy and one that might usefully Sharpen the discussion about Aid and about How much was actually delivered versus the promises. Quite a lot of Aid has gone to Russia during the past two years if you include the debt Relief a postponement of debt payments and forgiveness of some of the Loans a that makes up most of it. But other than debt Relief the amounts provided have been far less than the russians were led to expect. Theve Orlds response to russians distress has been similar to attempts to Cope in the 1980s with the latin debt crisis. In both cases the primary emphasis has been on preventing the debtors financial default and isolation a useful goal but particularly in the russian Case hardly sufficient. In both cases the Rescue efforts have been slow and intermittent. In latin America after a dire drop initially in the Standard of living things Are now turning out pretty Well. But it would be unwise to assume that events in Russia will necessarily work out equally cheerfully Russia is getting less Western help than it had anticipated and the West is seeing less Reform in Russia than it had hoped. Progress there is evidently going to be slower arid relations with the rest of the world scratcher than Over the past two years. In a period in which russians sense of direction is Likely to be highly erratic it s important for the United states to be exactly the opposite a steady Clear and predictable in its intentions