Opinion editor's note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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Kudos to a recent writer for his heartbreaking letter to the editor on the current school climate from the youth perspective ("Students are not the same," Readers Write, Dec. 28). Parents, teachers and legislators must listen to these voices now. I am the parent of a son the same age as the writer, who was in fifth grade when the pandemic disrupted learning and is now in eighth grade dealing with those ongoing effects. I had him read the letter to ask if it reflected his experience. Sadly he concurred. He said school wasn't like this before. Now many kids are incredibly disrespectful to teachers and receive no consequences. They sit where they want, use personal screens when they want, talk back and argue, and disrupt classes constantly. I've also heard this from a fellow parent who volunteered to sub in our district because it was desperate for staffing. My son said it seems like many teachers have just given up — and who could blame them after these last years? I'm a former public school teacher and know how incredibly hard it is to teach children who are behind in learning without those added layers of social, emotional and discipline issues.

What can be done? My teenage son surprisingly said, "Go back to paper." I was shocked. We struggle with screen time overuse as much as the next family. He said being on screens all day makes us grumpy, and everything is on iPads now — textbooks, class activities, homework, everything. He also suggested taking phones away from everyone (apparently they are supposed to stay in lockers but this is not enforced). From the mouths of phone-addicted babes.

I'm sure there is more. Kids who have been through the educational and developmental trauma of the pandemic, of all ages, may need a total reset of school expectations. Discipline is teaching, after all, not punishment. We should listen to youth and educators and fund recommended interventions for all. Parents can ask questions about our children's current experience and enforce our expectations for school behavior. We need to right the ship quickly, for the rest of our children's education depends on it.

Clare Sanford, Golden Valley

Regarding the excellent discussion in the Star Tribune Opinion section about failed literacy efforts in Minnesota schools, I am happy to report that we have the answer to this problem — look no further! Our own national AmeriCorps has a program called Reading Corps, based on tested and proven research now used in 14 states and the District of Columbia, that involves one-on-one phonics tutoring, in school, for selected students. Reading Corps provides tutors to schools for free, as long as a school designates a literacy coach for tutors assigned to their school. Adult tutors of all ages are carefully trained and monitored in techniques to improve literacy starting in kindergarten through the end of third grade. Why not past third grade? Because if a child is not reading at or above grade level by the start of third grade, they are at far greater risk of troubles down the line. This includes but is not limited to time in jail if the problem is not addressed.

I have been a tutor for four years and cannot recommend the job as an AmeriCorps reading tutor enough. The only problem is that there are not enough people like me (I am retired) with time and patience to become a tutor. Retirees, step up! Anyone available during school days, step up! You will be rewarded with the fruits of your labor: improving youth literacy. And, who knows? Maybe American culture. There are deserving students just waiting for you. I can see no greater priority for Minnesota schools' agenda.

Sarah Renner, Minneapolis

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Reading the letter "Phonics is what works" (Dec. 28) made me feel blue, or should eye say reeding "Fonics is what works" maid me feel blu? I come from a family of teachers and was a teacher myself for many years. Teaching phonics alone cannot be the answer. Eye know and ewe know that English is knot phonetic. Even the word "phonetic" is phony and not fonetick. Ewe have to mix fonics and hole language. Knowthing else makes cents.

David Wiljamaa, Minneapolis

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Peter Hutchinson got it partly right ("Writing on the wall: The kids can't read," Opinion Exchange, Dec. 27): When two-thirds of Minnesota students aren't proficient in reading on the national assessment, there is a problem with reading instruction. But there is also a hidden, missing link — auditory processing — that is the likely difference between the one-third who learn to read effortlessly and the two-thirds who don't. Brain researchers have found that auditory processing is the key to reading achievement (see Brainvolts, website of the Auditory Neuroscience Lab at Northwestern University). Singing and basic music skills are primary ways to develop it. Simply, children who can keep a beat, clap the rhythm of a song, match a pitch, and sing in tune are better readers.

Hearing begins in the womb. Babies babble musically before they speak and pay more attention to their mothers when they sing than when they talk. We are one of a few species— cockatoos, elephants, maybe sea lions — that can tap a steady beat, the only species that creates music, and the only species that reads. Contrary to the common belief that these behaviors function separately in the brain, beat-keeping, music-making and reading have interconnected neural networks. Also, when the brain processes sound, it activates cognitive, sensory, motor and reward systems that greatly impact language development and reading achievement.

Based on the new science of brain development, I propose a bold new goal for Minnesota: musical fitness for every child by the age of 5. Together, we can zap the gap in reading achievement.

Ann Kay, Minnetonka

I'm highly disappointed that the counterpoint "We should also remember other victims of 1862" (Opinion Exchange, Dec. 30) was printed, when it fails to address the complexity of issues that drove the Dakota to act. It's written by someone with an ax to grind and a bias against the Dakota. A one-sentence description that they were "unhappy and angry for a variety of reasons" doesn't begin to describe the suffering or starvation. The implication that the Dakota sold land and then had remorse denies the forced sale and removal for terms not met. It's not up to the standards of the Star Tribune to print obvious bias that isn't backed by context. You can make better choices for counterpoint opinions.

Laurie Stammer, Buffalo

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Shame on the Star Tribune for publishing Curtis Dahlin's woefully inaccurate "counterpoint" to the 1862 Dakota Massacre (if that's even a word that can be applied to a national tragedy). Even a quick glance at Wikipedia can tell you that the situation leading up to 1862 was more complicated than the Dakota suddenly getting upset after "selling their land." We are lucky that there is actual scholarship on the subject and that Dahlin's viewpoint does not need to be where curious Minnesotans get their history lesson; Mary Lethert Wingerd's "North Country: The Making of Minnesota" is a good place to start. Sadly, the Star Tribune's publishing choices mean that many coming to this paper for substantive information will get misleading dogwhistles, instead.

Sam Weisberg, Minneapolis

The photo of three drake mallards taking flight near the Mississippi River in the Minnesota section of Thursday's Star Tribune is stunningly beautiful and award-worthy. With an aperture setting to create a fuzzy background, the birds are majestic in form and detail. Photographer David Joles captures an image in black and white that resembles Minnesota "Duck Stamp" art created with a skillful paintbrush. When it becomes difficult to distinguish between a painting and the release of a camera's shutter, it is truly special.

Patrick Bloomfield, Chisholm, Minn.