UC must encourage homegrown talent

My 20-year-old daughter, a UC-Santa Barbara sophomore, fell in love with her first computer science course as a freshman. She took the required four math courses and 4 computer science courses to petition to get into the computer science major, getting six As, one B, and one B-. The B- was in a challenging computer science course (where my daughter was one of five women out of about 65 students) and, despite having a 3.67 GPA overall in her computer science courses, she was recently informed that she is not “qualified” (actual word) because of the B- and that there is no room in the major. My daughter is a bright, motivated young American citizen who is being told she cannot study computer science (and supposedly our country is trying to encourage young women in the STEM fields), but we need more foreign tech workers? What is wrong with this picture?

Linda Anthony

Sunnyvale

Better location for public safety memorial

Sam Liccardo’s support for a public safety memorial (Editorial, April 15) is a good idea that is a long time coming.

However, the proposed combined police/fire memorial at City Hall may not necessarily be the right idea. The San Jose Fire Department already holds most of its memorial ceremonies at its historic, original fire bell located in front of SJFD Station 1 on North Market Street.

The nonprofit San Jose Fire Museum recently purchased Old Fire Station One, which is adjacent to that bell. As part of a future museum at that location, there is a preliminary plan for a larger monument to all fallen SJFD firefighters.

A memorial to firefighters at the new fire museum, and a police memorial at City Hall, seems to me to be a better and more practical option.

John Whitaker

Volunteer, San Jose Fire Museum San Jose

Low engineering admissions at UC

Instead of lobbying for an increase in H-1B visas, Mark Zuckerberg and his peers, Bill Gates, Marissa Meyer and Eric Schmidt, should sign up for an engineering admissions tour at Berkeley or any of the UCs. They would quickly learn, as my son and I did last week, that engineering has one of the lowest admission rates with UC-Berkeley accepting only 10 percent of applicants. On our UC-Santa Barbara engineering tour, the guide congratulated the high school seniors of 2015 who were accepted since this year was the most competitive ever. How come the kids with straight As who grew up in the backyards of Silicon Valley are finding it so difficult to be accepted into engineering at the UCs? Politicians and tech leaders should go back to school because none of them seem to be able to put two and two together. But would they be accepted?

Paula van Grunsven

Los Gatos

Anti-vaccination parents miss the point

Critics opposed to school vaccination requirements argue that their kids, even without the vaccinations recommended by the medical profession, have a right to a public education. But the facts are pretty straightforward — allowing unvaccinated children in California’s public schools puts all children at risk of contracting serious communicable diseases. Doesn’t every child have the right to be safe in our public schools?

Bruce and Kim Tolley

Los Altos

Use Evergereen land for the college

I strongly believe turning Evergreen’s 27 acres into a moneymaking piece of land is a plan not focused on the success of our students. I live near Alum Rock and am happy to make the drive for my classes in such a beautiful part of San José. As a student at Evergreen Valley College, I have come to know many great people from different walks of life. I have noticed students wish to transfer after a semester or two because they feel there is more offered elsewhere. Instead of building structures with the focus being revenue, this land could be used to improve the college. Students should be the highest priority. Investing in education makes the future brighter for everyone.

Ruby Morales

San Jose

Democrats need more than just Clinton

The mind numbing length of presidential campaigns are, in part, due the number and length of the primary election season. Several Republicans will put forth their bids for the GOP nomination. They will rip and tear each other apart until the public is aware of every part and parcel of their life. We as voters will have a clear notion of the virtues and imperfections of each candidate — just as we, as informed voters, should.

What I fear is the Democratic Party primary election will be a coronation rather than a campaign.

Without competition in the primary campaign, Hillary Clinton will not need to stress her virtues or her faults. The public is the loser. There are, at least, two sides to every story. I fear that in a non-contested primary campaign the truth takes a beating. Competition is a virtue and has a cleansing effect on establishing right and wrong from pure propaganda and political talking points. I hope the Democrats do run a field of presidential candidates for 2016.

Phil Sumner

San Jose