Response to Avery Grant’s remarks in the Feb. 2 issue R egarding your criticism of

Newt Gingrich’s comments on hiring urban youths as janitors, what is so wrong with being a janitor? Why is there automatically a negative connotation attached to custodial work, manual labor or working with ones hands? Many fathers and mothers put food on the table and their kids through college, working as janitors and many other backbreaking jobs. Why is that a bad thing?

Or perhaps it was only negative because a conservative said it? An honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work used to mean something in this country. Now there is a sense of entitlement that our youth are learning and displaying.

Hard work, be it manual labor or otherwise, builds character and puts food on the table at the same time. My husband worked as a custodian in his high school for many summers, holidays and weekends to put money in his pocket, and he was grateful for it. He didn’t feel it was beneath him when it helped pay for his college education. He has a degree in mechanical and electrical engineering and is a software programming manager. His future endeavors weren’t thwarted because he worked as a custodian while in school.

Perhaps speaker Gingrich used the vocation janitor because he is old school and to him that was a respectable, traditional job. Shame on him for thinking custodial jobs are a worthwhile occupation. Especially since so many people have lost their jobs in this terrible economy, turning your nose up at a respectable employment opportunity is shortsighted.

When my son is old enough to work legally, I can assure you that he will be applying for any and all jobs at his high school, including custodial work. Having a society of “I’m too good for that” thinking bodes badly for all communities, Mr. Grant. Keep pushing that sense of entitlement and watch the decline of civilization. Remember, “conservative” means traditional, like the values that many of us still hold, including me, and hopefully these values can be remembered and taught to all our youth in all communities. Perhaps Mr. Grant should review the definition of “liberal”— being open-minded— which he obviously has failed to reflect.

Sharon Fernandez-Gades
Tinton Falls