THE NEWSHOUR BETTY ANN BOWSER'S LOW CLASS USE OF "KIDS"

I watched The NewsHour tonight. I thought The NewsHour did a good job with the story on The World Bank and Paul Wolfowitz. Also I appreciated the update on the new War Czar, three-star General Lute. But I was disappointed with Betty Ann Bowser's story on the Northern Lights.

For me, Bowser's story was more on education, i.e., how schools get students interested in science by means of the Northern Lights. An okay story, but really just "filler."

Moreover, I was disappointed that The NewsHour allows Bowser to refer to youth or children as "kids." I hear the same term innumerable times on local TV news, but for The NewsHour I don't think it is appropriate.

As the Dominican nuns taught me at St. Thomas the Apostle grammar school in Queens, New York, a long time ago, a "kid" is a young goat. The term henceforth has always seemed so low class when used to refer to children. Why must The NewsHour allow Bowser to get away with this? Or are all standards of proper English dumbed down to the lowest denominator even on The NewsHour?