News-Record.com

Some commenters have had it up to here with letters from social work students at UNCG.

We get these letters every year. They are a class requirement, I'm told.

And they can create drama ... for us and the students, some of whom tend to call in a panic near the end of the semester because they're worried their letter didn't make the cut.

The professor(s) involved has fixed that now, apparently ... this year's deadline was Feb. 22. And the students tell me they're writing to other papers as well, including their hometown papers.

But is it just me, or are there more social work majors today?

My policy on these letters is pretty much the same as with others. They are chosen (or not) on their individual merit.

I do bend the rules slightly, however. We do not typically run letters that are construed as campaign letters ... that is, letters that are written as part of an organized group effort. But that rule is aimed primarily at letters that cover a single subject and are written from a single point of view and a single agenda in mind.

These UNCG letters are not.

We make similar allowances for letters wrrtten by public school classes; we choose the best for publication.

The social work students' letters can be especially interesting, since these students often relate to what they've seen in the field as social services interns. These front-line experiences inform what they write, and help the rest of us better understand what's going on out there.

Also, I'm appreciative of any effort that gets young people reading newspapers and thinking about issues.

I've not alway been as heartened by some reactions to the letters, such as some mean rebuttals to a student who wrote about the impact of having a father in prison.

The letters are a useful learning experience all the same. For us and the authors.